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The deceased was the district head of Sokoto North.
Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, has sent his condolences to the monarch.
In his message, Tinubu described the late Abubakar as an excellent community leader and a devoted Muslim.
“He contributed immensely towards the propagation of Islam in his domain and beyond.
Nigeria is a country that has an endless supply of rib cracking people and events, such that when you think you have seen it all, something more funny or ridiculous pops up.
An issue that has become a subject for banter online is a campaign poster of a student from Taraba State University.
The poster is for a candidate identified as Usman Bello, who is running for the seat of National President of the Association of Carry Over Students.
He is a student in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Taraba State University, Jalingo.
Usman’s campaign motto is; ‘CARRY-OVER IS NOT THE END OF SCHOOL, LAS LAS WE GO GRADUATE.’
Sadiq Sanga Yusuf, one of the three students of the Greenfield University, Kaduna killed by suspected bandits has been buried amid wailing and tears by family members and friends.
SaharaReporters gathered that Sadiq was the son of Malam Yusuf Mu’azu, a Director of Kaduna Ministry of Works.
He was buried with outpouring of condolences to the father, who was also a former chairman of Jemaa Local Government Area in Kaduna state.
Sodiq’s body, along with those of Dorathy Yohanna and Precious Nwakacha were on Friday found in Kwanan Bature village, a location not too far from the school premises.
The bandits had earlier demanded N800 million.
Kaduna is one of the states in Nigeria most affected by rampant kidnappings by bandits.
The invasion of the university was the third attack by bandits on schools in Kaduna in 2021.
Meanwhile, a Twitter user, @ydcoalhas narrated the painful ordeal of finding his sister-in-law, Dorathy among the three students who were killed.
In a series of tweets directed at Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, he said, “People’s children have become sports for bandits and kidnappers. I’m very angry right now because there’s just so much I don’t understand anymore. What’s the purpose of life as a Nigerian? What’s the sole responsibility of a government for/to the people?”
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, embedded in two courier companies in Lagos have intercepted illicit drugs concealed in the statue of Mary and auto spare parts heading to Canada and the United Arab Emirate, UAE.
A statement released by the spokesperson of the agency, Femi Babafemi, states that the narcotics agents from the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations seized 500grammes of heroin going to Canada and hidden inside auto spare parts from one of the courier firms while 140grammes of Methamphetamine going to Philippines and concealed inside statue of Mary was seized in another courier company.
According to the statement, the Director, Operations and General Investigations, Adeyemi Adeofe disclosed that 3.1 kg of cannabis going to UAE concealed inside spices, and another kilogramme of cannabis going to UAE concealed inside local herbs were intercepted and seized.
In a related development, the Ondo state Command of the Agency has in series of raids between 6th and 20th April, 2021, across the state arrested 31 suspects from who 275.552kg of assorted illicit drugs were recovered.
According to the acting Commander of the state Command, Callys Alumona, the sting operations were carried out to curb the increasing rate of drug abuse among the youths and even the elderly in Ondo State. He said, this has led to the arrest of 31 suspects, which include 24 males, and 7 females. He added that the illicit drugs seized consist of 74.285Kgs of cannabis sativa, 267grammes of psychotropic substances; 201Kgs of skuchies (a combination of cannabis, tramadol, ethanol, and zobo), while many of the drug spots have been dismantled.”
Meanwhile, operatives of the Akwa Ibom state Command of the Agency have intercepted and seized 62.150kg of illicit drugs in Oron and Uyo areas of the state. The state Commander of the NDLEA, Mrs. Obot Bassey said four suspects were arrested in the sting two operations carried out on Thursday 22nd and Friday 23rd April, 2021.
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herders have killed over nine persons and injured scores during an attack on Ajimaka, a Tiv settlement in Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
It was gathered that the gunmen stormed the community with sophisticated weapons at about 2:00 am on Saturday, shooting sporadically and chanting war songs.
Ajimaka is a border town between Nasarawa and Benue state belonging to the Tiv farmers.
The majority of the victims were said to be deeply asleep when the marauding herdsmen surrounded the village, set houses on fire and opened fire on fleeing villagers.
Deputy Chairman of Doma LGA, Hon Atukpa Osukunu, confirmed the incident in a statement that said it was a reprisal.
He claimed herders, who also settled within the area, found one of them dead in the bush and suspected the Tiv community of the death.
Mary Daniel, an amputee lady who went viral while hawking water in Lagos, has revealed she’s set to establish a supermarket with donations she received from within and outside Nigeria.
She disclosed this on Friday while celebrating her 27th birthday at a lounge in Ikeja, Lagos.
“I feel happy today,” Mary enthused about the event.
Speaking further, Mary said; “I didn’t celebrate my birthday last year. I am grateful to God for what He has done in my life. I never thought I would mark my birthday in a big way like this.
People who know me before now have been calling me and making kind remarks about me. They said I have changed for good and they can hardly recognise me again.”
The single mum who has amassed millions in donations also spoke on her plan to establish a supermarket.
She said; “I want to set up a supermarket where I will be selling cartons of noodles, bottled water, drinks, food stuffs and other items. “I plan to employ two of my cousins. One is based in Awka (Anambra) while the other is based in Asaba (Delta).
”They will relocate to Lagos and join me in running the supermarket. As soon as I get my own apartment, I will bring my daughter to Lagos. I hope my story will inspire people in my condition to always try to struggle to earn a living.”
According to her, a non-governmental organisation has decided to pick up the bill of prosthesis to be procured for her.
“The people that will do the artificial leg came on Monday to take the measurement of my leg. They said it would be ready in one month’s time,” she said.
Nigerian actress, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has reacted to reports of her being in an amorous relationship with former National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Adams Oshiomhole.
The Nollywood veteran who is married to Captain Ekeinde, spoke in a recent interview with BBC Yoruba, saying that she is not one who likes to attend events and insisted that she has never met Oshiomhole before.
Omotola said; “People do not know that I don’t like to go out. I am either at home or at the office. I only like to go out on official purposes. I don’t know Adams Oshiomhole. I have never met him. End of the story.”
Speaking further, the mother of four said that any lady who does not have a source of livelihood should not consider marriage because she is automatically preparing herself to be imprisoned in the union.
Asked if she would allow any of her children to marry at the age of 18 like she did, to which she answered;
“I was at the age of consent when I got married and above all, I was mature when I met my husband. Currently, I have only one child that is 18 years old, so the question is late. He is a boy and peradventure, he says he wants to get married, I will not allow it because he does not have his own money now.
One must apply wisdom or common sense in everything one does. People cannot say that because I married at 18, therefore they can also do it. The question is, ‘are you ready for marriage’? When I was at that age, I was ready. I had been working since I was 15-years-old and I had become a millionaire at the age of 18. That is a fact that a lot of people don’t know.
“I had my own money. I was not dependent on any man. Moreover, my father died early, so I was already responsible for my younger siblings. I was like their mother at that time, so I was very mature and financially prepared.
One should not marry a man when one is not financially stable. If one does that, one would be going into slavery or better still, prison. If any of my children, after considering all these factors, say they are ready for marriage, we (parents) would meet the person and if we like them, we would give them our blessings.”
The gunmen who invaded the governor’s village house in Omuma in the Oru East Local Government Area of the state in early hours of Saturday killed two security men on duty before torching it.
Our correspondent’s investigation revealed that one of the security men killed was an operative of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
According to a village source who pleaded anonymity, cars parked at the compound and part of the building were affected by the fire.
According to the source, the security men on duty repelled the gunmen, leading to the death of the two cops.
An unconfirmed news also has it that the gunmen killed two other security men at Oguta-Mgbidi Junction, a road that leads to the governor’s country home.
Nigeria has overtaken the Democratic Republic of Congo with 25 percent of people without access to electricity, making it the country globally with the highest number of citizens that lack access to power.
World Bank Group Practice Manager, West and Central Africa Energy, Ashish Khanna, disclosed this in his presentation during a virtual engagement with power reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, April 21.
According to him, “Nigeria now has the largest number of unelectrified people globally and the trend is worsening; of the electrified, the supply is very unreliable with widespread blackouts.
Electrification, which was growing at 1.1% yearly since 2010, has not kept pace with the population growth of 3% yearly. This has increased the deficit by 3 million people to 85m which is 57% of the population. Nigeria now has 25% more unelectrified people than the 2nd most unelectrified country (DRC – in absolute terms).
The power sector is operationally inefficient with unreliable supply exacerbated by high losses and lack of payment discipline. Businesses in Nigeria lose about $29 billion annually because of unreliable electricity while Nigerian utilities get paid for only a half of electricity they receive.”
US President Joe Biden will travel to the UK and the EU in June for his first overseas trip, the White House said on Friday.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the trip aims to “highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalising the transatlantic relationship, and working in close co-operation with our allies”.
Mr Biden will attend the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, set for June 11 to 13, followed by a visit to Brussels, where he will hold meetings with European Union leadership and attend the June 14 Nato Leaders Summit.
“While in Brussels, President Biden will participate in a US – EU Summit, which will underscore our commitment to a strong transatlantic partnership based on shared interests and values,” Ms Psaki said.
“The leaders will discuss a common agenda to ensure global health security, stimulate global economic recovery, tackle climate change, enhance digital and trade co-operation, strengthen democracy and address mutual foreign policy concerns.”
The meetings with the country’s closest allies come after Mr Biden invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to a summit in the coming months in a third country, though no date has yet been set.
Recent American presidents selected North American neighbours for their first cross-border trips, though former president Donald Trump, whose penchant for unilateral action and open scepticism of the Nato alliance unsettled American allies, made his first overseas stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that she was looking forward to Mr Biden’s trip, saying, “We have much to do together.”
Together with @eucopresident Michel, I will be happy to greet US @POTUS Biden in Brussels for the EU-US summit on his next trip to Europe in June 2021.
We have much to do together, from climate change to health, from trade and multilateralism to geopolitical challenges.
Nigerian Disc Jockey and music producer, DJ Cuppy, born Ifeoluwa Otedola has opened up she gets bullied on social media.
DJ Cuppy said that she receives numerous negative comments and criticisms about her voice and music online.
According to the billionaire heiress, people constantly condemned her and told her to stick to being a DJ instead.
Speaking further, she urged people to listen to her album; Original Copy and feel free to share their honest review, added that cyber bullying is not cool.
The Kayode Oladele-led Committee on Farmer/Herders Conflict in Ogun State has submitted its report to Governor Dapo Abiodun. The governor received the report in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, on Thursday.
Oladele, who led other members of the committee to submit the report, noted that farmers/herders clashes were the major security challenges facing the State.
According to him, the crisis had negative impact on food security and brought hardship to the inhabitants of the affected areas.
With the clashes, which have claimed many lives, Oladele affirmed that people’s “sources of livelihood have been destroyed.”
The Chairman pointed out that the committee, in carrying out its assignment, adopted a participatory approach that involved traditional rulers, community leaders, victims and their relatives as well as other relevant stakeholders.
He stated that the report included implementable recommendations that would go a long way in finally settling the crisis once and for all.
In his reaction, Governor Abiodun confirmed that many sustained various degrees of wounds in the three affected local government areas – Imeko/Afon, Yewa North and Yewa South.
He said the committee was set up with a mandate to find out the immediate and remote cause of the crisis, quantify the loses from all sides and come up with recommendations on how government could pre-emptive similar occurrences in the future, saying now that we have resolved this “never again should such dastardly skirmishes be allowed.”
According to the governor, “this Committee was set up by government to basically look into what happened, quantify the losses from both sides and make recommendations to government on how to pre-empt similar conflict from occurring in the future.
“We realised that this axis has a communication problem which prevented our people from communicating especially in times of crisis. We are solving this problem because telecommunication companies have started erecting their masts and very soon communication will improve in these areas.”
Britain’s parliament has become the latest government to declare China’s treatment of its Uighur citizens as genocide, attracting the condemnation of Beijing.
Lawmakers in the British House of Commons passed a motion unopposed after a three-hour debate Thursday declaring that the Uighurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in the northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region of China “are suffering crimes against humanity and genocide.”
MP Nusrat Ghani, who China sanctioned along with four other members of parliament last month, introduced the bill telling lawmakers that while they must never misuse the term genocide they must also never fail to use it when warranted.
“Today, this parliament has a historic chance, together — regardless of party difference in most other matters — to hold its head up, stand tall and stand for those who have no voice,” she said in her introductory remarks. “Let us make the statement today, loud and clear, that the UK has not forgotten the Uighurs and others and that we will stand for them and insist that our government do exactly the same by calling this a genocide.”
Beijing has been accused by the United States, the European Union and other mostly Western nations of interning more than a million of its Uighur citizens in Xinjiang camps where they are subjected to forced labor, torture and sterilization.
It has also been accused of unlawful killings, forced disappearances and other human rights crimes — all of which China vehemently disputes, arguing the camps are to stamp out terrorism while demanding the foreign nation to stop interfering with its international affairs.
The governments of Canada, the Netherlands and the United States have all said China is committing genocide.
However, the government of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has criticized China for its treatment of Uighurs, has been reluctant to call it a genocide stating such a declaration is for the courts.
“A finding of genocide requires proof that relevant acts were carried out with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic or religious group,” Nigel Adams, the minister of Asia, said during the debate. “For these reasons, we do not believe it is right for the government to make a determination in this, or in any other case where genocide or crimes against humanity are alleged.”
Ghani told lawmakers that she brought the motion to the parliament because the government says the determination can only be made by a court, for which every route has been blocked by China.
“We need to take back control,” she said. “Our route to declaring genocide cannot be controlled by China.”
China’s embassy in Britain on Friday admonished the politicians, calling the declaration “an outrageous smear against the development achievements of Xinjiang” and its policies.
The embassy in a statement reiterated its stance that Xinjiang-related issues are in nature about counter-terrorism, de-radicalization and anti-separatism, stating the accusations of a handful of British MPs “is the most preposterous lie of the century, an outrageous insult and affront to the Chinese people and a gross breach of international law and the basic norms governing international relations.”
The move is excepted to further fray relations between the two nations that have already become strained as Britain has repeatedly taken action against China for its treatment of its former colony, Hong Kong.
Following a year of mass protests in the city, Beijing imposed a draconian national security law upon Hong Kong last summer and this spring overhauled its electoral system reducing the number of elected officials and permitting only so-called patriots to hold office.
London said these measures violate conditions to maintain Hong Kong’s high-degree of autonomy guaranteed in the Sino-British Joint Declaration that returned the city to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
In response, Britain has launched a new visa for specific Hong Kong residents with a pathway to citizenship.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, said the British parliament has shown the world “the egregious abuses the Chinese state commits against the Uighur people.”
“We owe it to the victims of this genocide to call out the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of the Uighurs,” he said. “The free world must be united in holding the Chinese government to account for these abuses.”
The World Uighur Congress, an international organization of exiled Uighurs, celebrated Britain’s declaration.
“Uighur survivors have begged for recognition of what is happening to them,” WUC President Dolkun Isa said in a statement. “It is an important step in the right direction that British MPs have joined the momentum and called it what it is: a genocide.”
A pregnant lady has been apprehended in Markudi, Benue state capital for allegedly setting her man’s apartment on fire.
The lady whose name was not mentioned reportedly waited for her boyfriend to go out for his daily hustle before taking her belongings out and thereafter set the apartment ablaze.
Naija News understands that the incident happened precisely on Wednesday, April 21 at Achussa, a suburb of Makurdi, the capital city of the state.
Joseph, an eyewitness who also is a resident of the area, told newsmen that the unnamed lady who lives in one of the villages in the state, was only coming to visit her boyfriend occasionally.
He narrated further that the lady had on several occasions complained that her boyfriend was hardly giving her transport fare each time she visited, adding that she claimed they quarrelled on Tuesday after she demanded transport fare to return to the village and the matter was later settled.
“The following morning, she waited for him to go to work, brought out her few belongings before setting the room on fire. Unfortunately for her, the residents apprehended her before she could disappear,” Joseph told newsmen.
He added: “She was handed over to the vigilantes, but when her boyfriend was called upon, the community prevailed on them to settle the matter quietly without involving the police.”
When contacted on the incident the state police command spokesperson, DSP Catherine Anene, said she was not aware of the incident.
Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), in conjunction with Joe Nwiloh Heart Foundation, has organised health and safety training in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.
The Director General of the LSSC, Mr. Lanre Mojola, said the corps members were being trained to prevent them from becoming victims of CPR.
He said in tandem with the current administration’s policy, especially on safety and health issues, his agency had made it a matter of urgency to carry youths along, particularly on how to prioritise their health and safety, “especially now that we are in post-COVID-19 pandemic era.”
Mojola said cardiac arrest can be curbed through health and safety measures put in place by the agency, in conjunction with other health and safety agencies.
He said the 200 youth corps members selected for the training would become Lagos Safety Ambassadors, to ensure health and safety standards are improved in the state.
The federal government says it is turning around the entire passport application process by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and shortening passport processing time to six weeks.
The statement from the ministry of interior promises that the process will now be seamless and transparent; and that it will accord human dignity to applicants and fulfil citizenship integrity, in line with the mandate of the ministry.
The passport application and processing system in Nigeria is often a tortuous, rigorous and bribe-induced one, with touts often milling at passport offices.
During a meeting with the Comptroller General of Immigration, Mohammad Babandede, as well as the attaches in Nigeria’s Missions abroad, Minister of Interior Rauf Aregbesola said, “We have had several challenges in the past, including shortage of booklets, touting, racketeering, inflating the cost, passports being issued to ineligible persons, among others.
“It has become imperative therefore to review our operations and rejig our system, in order to be able to offer excellent services to our clients.”
The minister added that efforts are underway to embed visible and invisible security operatives in all passport offices. “They will wear body cameras. They will detect and report any form of solicitations, inflation, improper communications, extortion, diversion, hoarding and other corrupt practices. Those caught will be dealt with according to the law,” he stressed.
The minister disclosed that an ombudsman will also be created for members of the public to receive complaints and reports on officers trying to deviate from prescribed guidelines and subversion of the process.
“Therefore, I am declaring a zero-tolerance stance to all forms of touting. No applicant will be made to pay any illegitimate fees,” Aregbesola declared.
Minister of information, culture and tourism, Lai Mohammed says it is in the best interest of Nigerian elites for the country to remain united.
Mohammed stated this on Wednesday when he featured on a NAN flagship interview programme, NAN Forum.
He accused elites of fanning the embers of disintegration in the country, and warned that they will bear the greater consequences if Nigeria breaks up.
According to him, some elites who have attained professorial status may be left with no option than to work in bakeries in neighbouring Togo just to survive.
Our challenge is more with the elites, not with the common people. Go to the remotest part of Nigeria today, you will see Nigerians from different tribes, culture and religion living together peacefully.
“Elites ought to take the lead in cementing the unity of the country. But when the elites start preaching tribal hatred, people believe them because they think they know better.
“Nigeria accounts for 70 percent of West Africa’s population, and if Nigeria should disintegrate today, we are going to overrun Benin Republic, Togo, Niger and other neighbouring countries.
“The elites will suffer more because some professors could be working in bakeries in Togo just to survive. We saw it happen when the Liberians came here during their civil war.
It is in their own enlightened interest that they should work to fix Nigeria. Many of them have more than one passport — American, British, Irish — and at the first crack of trouble, they are gone,” he said.
Bandits who attacked Greenfield University along the Kaduna-Abuja Highway in Kaduna State on Tuesday night, killed a porter of the institution, identified as Paul Okafor.
The assailants also kidnapped a yet-to-be ascertained number of students, said to be mainly females, it was learnt.The bandits stormed the school located on kilometre 34 along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna State around 8:30pm with sophisticated weapons.
They reportedly fired their guns indiscriminately, killing Okafor, the porter in charge of the male hostel, in the process. They went away with at least 17 students, it was learnt.
The bandits stormed the school located on kilometre 34 along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway in the Chikun local government area of Kaduna State around 8:30pm with sophisticated weapons.
They reportedly fired their guns indiscriminately, killing Okafor, the porter in charge of the male hostel, in the process.
They went away with at least 17 students, it was learnt.“The porter was shot when he was trying to close the door against the bandits to protect us,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Registrar of the University, Bashir Muhammad, who was at the Operation Thunder Strike camp, where the rescued students were being kept before they would be released to their parents, refused to speak on the incident, saying he had been directed not to say anything.
He, however, assured that the management of the school would speak on the matter on or before Friday when more details might have come out.
The newspaper learnt that the bandits had called some of the parents of kidnapped students, demanding ransom in millions of naira, which the school registrar neither denied nor confirmed.
Some of the parents of the abducted students, who were also at the military camp, were too traumatised to speak but were seen in groups discussing possible ways out in hushed tones.
Earlier, confirming the attack, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, in a statement said, “Last night, the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs received distress calls of an attack by armed bandits on the Greenfield University, situated at Kasarami, off the Kaduna-Abuja Road in Chikun LGA.
“Troops of Operation Thunder Strike (OPTS) and other operatives swiftly moved to the location and the bandits retreated.
“After search-and-rescue operations, a staff member of the university, Paul Ude Okafor, was confirmed to have been killed by the bandits, while a number of students were kidnapped.
“The security operatives took custody of the remaining students who have been handed over to the institution, as at noon today, Wednesday 21st April 2021.
“The actual number of students kidnapped is still being sought from the institution’s records.”
Kaduna has been a target for kidnappers in recent times.
On March 11, some bandits attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka in the Igabi Local Government Area of the state, kidnapping 39 students.
Ten of the students have been released while the fate of the others still hangs in the balance.
The state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has vowed not to negotiate or pay ransom to kidnappers, and also threatened that anyone who negotiates with the bandits on behalf of the government will be arrested and prosecuted.
A man has put himself in trouble with the law after he bedded his 13-year-old girlfriend and infected her with a sexually transmitted infection.
Convivial Kundai Pachirera, 24, was dragged to court recently where he was charged with bedding a minor.
According to a local tabloid, the Mabvuku man was not asked to plead when he appeared before Harare magistrate Dennis Mangosi.
It is in the States case that Pachirera started dating the 13-year-old on August 9 last year and on August 15, the complainant invited Pachirera to their house as she knew that she was going to be home alone and wanted to have quality time with her boyfriend.
It is alleged that Pachirera went to the house and they had lunch and afterwards, he asked for sexual intercourse which the minor reportedly consented to on condition that they used protection.
The court heard that they never communicated after the incident.
The matter only came to light in April this year after the complainant fell sick of a sexually transmitted infection and she told her teacher of her sexual experience with Pachirera.
A police report was made leading to Pachirera’s arrest.
President Joe Biden has said the conviction of a former police officer in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America”.
But he warned: “We can’t stop here”.
White officer Derek Chauvin was filmed kneeling on African-American Mr Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, sparking mass protests against racism.
He was found guilty on Tuesday of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.
Sentencing is likely to happen in two months, and Chauvin could spend decades in jail. He is expected to appeal against the verdict.
In a phone call with Mr Floyd’s family after the verdict was announced, the president was heard saying: “At least now there is some justice.”
In televised remarks shortly afterwards, Mr Biden said that such a verdict was “much too rare”.
“We can’t leave this moment or look away thinking our work is done. We have to look at it as we did for those nine minutes and 29 seconds,” he said.
Vice-President Kamala Harris urged lawmakers to pass the George Floyd bill aimed at reforming policing in the US.
“This bill is part of George Floyd’s legacy. This work is long overdue,” she said.
People gathered outside the courtroom and on the intersection in Minneapolis where Mr Floyd was killed to celebrate the verdict.
Cheers broke out, drivers honked their car horns and people blocked traffic chanting: “George Floyd” and “All three counts”, referring to the three charges of which Chauvin was convicted.
“It’s a good day in Minneapolis,” said 21-year-old Kenneth Nwachi.
One local resident told the Associated Press news agency she felt grateful and relieved, while another said: “There’s some form of justice that’s coming.”
Crowds also gathered in other cities to celebrate the verdict.
But they also said that more needed to be done.
Police officers have rarely been convicted – if they are charged at all – for deaths that occur in custody, and the verdict in the trial has been widely seen as an indication of how the US legal system will treat such cases in future.
At a family news conference, Mr Floyd’s brother Philonise said: “Today, we are able to breathe again.”
The Floyd family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said the conviction marked a “turning point in history” for the US.
According to the Washington Post newspaper, 274 people have been killed by US police in 2021.
Shortly before the verdict on Tuesday, a police officer in the state of Ohio shot dead a 16-year-old black girl while responding to an emergency call over an attempted stabbing.
It took the 12-member jury less than a day to reach their verdict.
Chauvin, whose face was obscured with a coronavirus mask, showed little reaction as the verdict was read, remaining quiet and looking around the room. His bail was revoked and he was led away with his hands cuffed behind his back.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.40.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionWatch the moment Derek Chauvin learnt his fate
The verdict followed a highly charged, three-week trial in which 45 witnesses took the stand and several hours of video footage were shown.
Several witnesses broke down in tears as they watched graphic footage of Mr Floyd’s death and described feeling “helpless” as events unfolded.
Expert witnesses on behalf of the state testified that Mr Floyd died from a lack of oxygen due to the manner of restraint employed by Chauvin and his colleagues.
Chauvin himself chose not to testify, invoking his right to not incriminate himself with his responses.
