Mrs. Oluwakemi Ayoola; wife to the former commissioner of environment in Oyo; Kehinde Ayoola, has died barely 10 months after the demise of her husband. Oluwakemi, a vibrant professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University’s Institute of Agriculture, Research and Training, IAR&T, Apata, Ibadan, was said to have breathed his last Monday night.
It was learnt she had been sick for a while, especially after the death of her husband, who died while serving as Environment commissioner under the Seyi Makinde admin The late husband had died 14th May, 2020, two weeks to the one-year anniversary of the incumbent administration.
President Biden will sign his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal on Thursday afternoon, the White House announced, a day earlier than expected.
The White House issued an updated guidance on Thursday saying Biden would sign the American Rescue Plan, which passed the House on Wednesday in a party-line vote, in the Oval Office at 1:30 p.m. Vice President Harris is expected to attend but no additional guests are expected.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain tweeted that the relief bill arrived on Wednesday night, earlier than planned, and that the signing had been moved up as a result.
Once the bill is signed, the Biden administration will race to implement its numerous provisions, including sending out relief checks to tens of millions of Americans and aid to states and localities. The signing comes just three days before enhanced unemployment benefits are due to expire.
Biden is slated to deliver a primetime address Thursday evening to mark one year since the coronavirus lockdowns in the United States. He is expected to reflect on the sacrifices Americans have made and the lives lost and discuss his administration’s efforts to ramp up vaccine production, according to a White House official.
Biden also plans to “lay out the next steps he will take to get the pandemic under control, level with the American people about what is still required to defeat the virus and provide a hopeful vision of what is possible if we all come together,” according to the official.
President Joe Biden
The speech will also present an opportunity for Biden to take a victory lap following his first legislative accomplishment with the passage of his coronavirus relief plan.
The bill includes funding for $1,400 direct payments to Americans who qualify, funding for vaccines and school reopenings, an expansion of the child tax credit, relief for small businesses, assistance for state and local governments, among other measures.
The House approved the bill in a 220-211 vote on Wednesday afternoon. No Republicans backed the bill and one Democrat voted against it. The Senate approved the bill over the weekend.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated Wednesday that it would take time for the bill text to reach the White House. She said it was expected to arrive sometime on Thursday and that Biden would sign the bill on Friday, a schedule that has now been moved up.
The bandits suspected to be loyalists of the slain criminal kingpin, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as ‘Gana’, stormed the rural area at about 4:00 am and started shooting sporadically even as they set ablaze the station with explosives and carted away arms and ammunition.
Gunmen suspected to be bandits have attacked a police station in Tse Harga community of Katsina-Ala Local Government Area in Benue State.
The bandits suspected to be loyalists of the slain criminal kingpin, Terwase Akwaza, popularly known as ‘Gana’, stormed the rural area at about 4:00 am and started shooting sporadically even as they set ablaze the station with explosives and carted away arms and ammunition.
They also set ablaze several buildings and a police pick-up van. A source told SaharaReporters that some policemen on duty engaged the hoodlums in a gun battle, which resulted in the death of one policeman while others fled with bullet injuries.
Police Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Catherine Anne, confirmed the killing of a policeman in the affected area.
She however said details of the attack were still sketchy.
Prince William defended Britain’s monarchy Thursday against accusations of bigotry made by his brother, Prince Harry, and sister-in-law, Meghan, insisting the family is not racist.
In comments made during a visit to an east London school, William became the first royal to directly address the explosive interview broadcast Sunday in the U.S. that Harry and Meghan gave to Oprah Winfrey.
“We’re very much not a racist family,” he said as his wife, Kate, walked by his side.
Harry and Meghan’s allegations of racism and mistreatment have rocked the royal family, and Buckingham Palace sought to respond to them in a 61-word statement Tuesday, but it has failed to quell the controversy.
William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, says he hadn’t yet spoken to Harry in the aftermath of the interview, “but I will do.’’
Meghan, who is biracial, said in the interview she was so isolated and miserable as a working member of the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts. She also said Harry told her there were “concerns and conversations” by a royal family member about the color of her baby’s skin when she was pregnant with their son, Archie.
Hers and Harry’s comments have touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies.
William and Kate toured School21 in Stratford, east London as children returned to classes. The visit was also meant to mark the rollout to secondary schools of a mental health project Kate launched in primary schools in 2018.
The man who invented popular “audio cassette” tape has given up the ghost.
Lou Ottens, the Dutch engineer credited with inventing the audio cassette tape, has died aged 94.
An estimated 100 billion cassette tapes have been sold around the world since they were introduced in the 1960s.
Ottens’ invention transformed the way people listened to music, and there has even been a resurgence of the cassette in recent years.
The engineer died in his hometown of Duizel last weekend, his family announced on Tuesday.
Lou Ottens
Ottens became head of Philips’ product development department in 1960, where he and his team developed the cassette tape.
In 1963, it was presented at the Berlin Radio electronics fair and soon became a worldwide success.
Ottens struck a deal with Philips and Sony that saw his model confirmed as the patented cassette, after a number of Japanese companies reproduced similar tapes in a number of sizes.
Cassette tapes have experienced an unlikely surge in popularity in recent years. A number of artists including Lady Gaga and The Killers have released their music on them.
The Prime Minister of Ivory Coast, Hamed Bakayoko, has died in a hospital in Germany, authorities say.
Bakayoko, who was receiving treatment for cancer, passed away on Wednesday, just days after his 56th birthday.
He was appointed prime minister in July, following the sudden death of his predecessor Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
President Alassane Ouattara described Mr Bakayoko as a “great statesman, an example to young people and a man of exemplary loyalty”.
PM Bakayoko
“Our country is in mourning,” said President Alassane Ouattara on Twitter. “I have the immense sorrow to announce to you the death of Prime Minister Hamed Bakayoko this Wednesday, 10 March, in Germany following cancer”, Ouattara said, adding, he was “a great statesman, a model for our youth, a personality of great generosity and exemplary loyalty ”.
A transfer to Turkey, where there was talk of the Ivorian Prime Minister undergoing an emergency transplant, had also been considered for last Thursday. But doctors said he was no longer operable.
Bakayoko received treatment in France on February 18. In recent months, he had contracted coronavirus and malaria.
During his first stay in Paris at the end of January, he had performed a series of medical tests at the American Hospital without any precise diagnosis. Alassane Ouattara went to his bedside visited the prime minister on March 3 in Paris. During a dinner with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace, the Ivorian president expressed concern about the health of his prime minister.
A former media executive who turned to politics, he played a prominent mediation role in Ivory Coast’s civil war during the first decade of the century.
“He was a key player in the political game and a major player in reconciliation. It’s a true shame,” Issiaka Sangare, spokesman for the opposition Ivorian Popular Front told AFP news agency.
Aside from his role as prime minister, Mr Bakayoko was also the country’s defence minister.
Patrick Achi has been appointed as interim prime minister, while Tene Birahima Ouattara, a younger brother of the president, has been named interim defence minister.
Mexico’s lower house has approved a bill that would legalise the recreational use of cannabis.
It will now go to the Senate for a final vote, which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party is confident will pass.
Cannabis plant ☘️
This would make Mexico one of the world’s largest regulated markets for cannabis.
Mexico has struggled with a bloody war against powerful drug cartels, with violence killing thousands yearly.
Lawmakers voted in favour of the bill by 316 votes to 129. It had already been approved in the Senate in November but another vote is needed following some alterations by the lower house.
The legislation would let users with a permit carry up to 28g and grow as many as eight plants at home for personal use. At present, it is illegal to carry more than five grams.
It would also allow for other licences for the cultivation, transformation, research and export or import of cannabis, Reuters news agency reports.
Mr López Obrador has argued that the bill could help tackle the country’s powerful drug cartels.
One lawmaker from his Morena party told AFP news agency that the law would help to achieve peace.
However critics have argued that the bill could make marijuana more accessible to children. Others have questioned why Mexicans would be able to buy as much alcohol as they like, yet be liable for prosecution if they grow more than eight cannabis plants.
Should the bill be approved, Mexico would become the third country in the world, after Uruguay and Canada, to legalise cannabis for recreational use nationwide.
A number of foreign cannabis-growing companies from Canada and California are said to be interested in tapping into the market opportunity presented by the legislation.
Brazil has recorded 268,370 fatalities since the pandemic began
Brazil has exceeded 2,000 Covid-related deaths in a single day for the first time, as infection rates soar.
The country has the second highest death toll in the world, behind the US, with a total of 268,370 fatalities. Wednesday’s total was 2,286.
Experts warn the transmission rate is made worse by more contagious variants.
On Wednesday, former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hit out at President Jair Bolsonaro’s “stupid” decisions made during the pandemic.
Mr Bolsonaro, who was pictured wearing a mask for the first time in a month on Wednesday, has consistently sought to downplay the threat posed by the virus. Earlier this week he told people to “stop whining”.
The surge in cases has put health systems in most of Brazil’s largest cities under immense pressure, with many close to collapse, Brazil’s leading public health centre Fiocruz warns.
Margareth Dalcolmo, a doctor and researcher at Fiocruz said the country was “at the worst moment of the pandemic”.
“2021 is still going to be a very hard year,” she told AFP news agency.
The latest deaths mean Brazil has a rate of 128 deaths per 100,000 population – 11th highest amongst 20 of the worst affected countries in the world. The highest rates are in the Czech Republic with 208 deaths per 100,000 people and the UK with 188 deaths per 100,000 people, according to Johns Hopkins University in the US.
Thursday is the anniversary of a pandemic being declared by the World Health Organization. Worldwide more than 118 million cases of the virus have been recorded, and more than 2.6 million deaths.
What’s the situation in Brazil?
On Wednesday, the country recorded 79,876 new cases, the third highest number in a single day. A surge in cases in recent days has been attributed to the spread of a highly contagious variant of the virus – named P1 – which is thought to have originated in the Amazon city of Manaus.
A total of 2,286 people died with the virus on Wednesday.
Reports say the capital Brasilia has now reached full ICU capacity, while two cities – Porto Alegre and Campo Grande – have exceeded capacity.
In its report, the institute warned that figures point to the “overload and even collapse of health systems”.
Brazilian epidemiologist Dr Pedro Hallal told the BBC’s Outside Source TV programme: “If we do not start vaccinating the population here very soon, it will become a massive tragedy.”
Dr Hallal, who works in Rio Grande do Sul, said people felt “abandoned by the federal government”.
Mr Bolsonaro has belittled the risks posed by the virus from the start of the pandemic. He has also opposed quarantine measures taken at a regional level, arguing that the damage to the economy would be worse than the effects of the virus itself.
Preliminary data suggests the P1 variant could be up to twice as transmittable as the original version of the virus.
It also suggests that the new variant could evade immunity built up by having had the original version of Covid. The chance of reinfection is put at between 25% and 60%.
image captionThe new coronavirus variant first detected in Brazil has led to a surge in deaths in the country
Last week, the Fiocruz Institute said P1 was just one of several “variants of concern” that have become dominant in six of eight states studied by the Rio-based organisation.
“This information is an atomic bomb,” said Roberto Kraenkel, of the Covid-19 Brazil Observatory, told the Washington Post newspaper.
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has described the situation in Brazil as “very concerning” and warned of a possible regional spillover.
Throughout Myanmar’s month-long demonstrations against the resumption of military rule, artists have helped shape how the protests are expressed visually, from moving illustrations of demonstrators who have died, to huge murals, roadside artworks and satirical protest signs mocking coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing.
…But the most permanent form of protest is, perhaps, the tattoo.
From big cities like Yangon and Mandalay, to Shan state’s Nyaung Shwe, a small town near the popular tourist spot of Inle Lake, protesters are getting inked for democracy.
China and Russia have announced plans to build a lunar space station.
Russian space agency Roscosmos says it has signed an agreement with China’s National Space Administration to develop research facilities on the surface of the moon, in orbit or both.
A statement from both countries’ space agencies says it will be available for use by other nations.
It comes as Russia prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its first-ever manned space flight.
The International Scientific Lunar Station will carry out a wide range of scientific research including exploration and utilisation of the moon, a statement from both agencies said.
“China and Russia will use their accumulated experience in space science, research and development and use of space equipment and space technology to jointly develop a road map for the construction of an international lunar scientific research station,” the statement (in Mandarin) said.
It added that both Russia and China will collaborate in the planning, design, development and operation of the research station.
Chen Lan, an analyst who specialises in China’s space programme, told AFP news agency that the project was a “big deal”.
“This will be the largest international space cooperation project for China, so it’s significant,” he said.
China is a relatively late bloomer when it comes to the world of space exploration but last December its Chang’e-5 probe successfully brought back rock and “soil” it picked up from the moon. At the time it was seen as another demonstration of the country’s increasing capability in space.
Russia, which pioneered space exploration, has been eclipsed by China and the United States in recent years. Last year it lost its monopoly on taking astronauts to the International Space station following SpaceX’s successful launch.
The US has announced plans to return to the moon by 2024. The programme, called Artemis, will see a man and woman step on the lunar surface in what would be the first landing with humans since 1972.
Two giraffes died in a fire at a zoo in Virginia on Monday, according to the zoo and the local fire department. Roer’s Zoofari said in a Facebook post that staff were “devastated” by the loss of their “beloved giraffe” named Waffles and his new companion that had not yet been named.
“Waffles was a favorite with our visitors and our team. We are heartbroken,” owner Vanessa Roer said in a statement on the zoo website. “We are so grateful that no person or other Zoofari animals were injured or lost. And we deeply appreciate the firefighters who came so quickly to help extinguish the fire.”
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department said in a Facebook post that the two giraffes were found deceased after the fire at the zoo on Hunter Mill Road in Vienna was brought under control. No other animals were injured, the department said. The Zoofari owner received a call around 5:30 p.m. that the barn was on fire, according to the post from the zoo. The zoo website said the fire occurred after the zoo had closed for the day.
Zoom founder Eric Yuan has transferred about 18 million of his shares worth more than $6bn (£4.4bn), according to a regulatory filing.
Mr Yuan, who is also chief executive of the video-conferencing platform, moved roughly 40% of his stake in the company last week.
The shares were shown as gifts to unspecified beneficiaries last week.
Mr Yuan has seen his personal wealth rocket as Zoom became a household name during pandemic lockdowns.
An increasing number of students and professionals connected online boosting the fortunes of Zoom and its founder.
Mr Yuan started Zoom in 2011 and listed it on the US stock market in 2019, making him a billionaire. He is currently worth $13.7bn, according to Forbes.
A Zoom spokesperson said the transfers were related to Mr Yuan’s estate planning practices. “The distributions were made in accordance with the terms of Eric Yuan and his wife’s trusts.”
Zoom’s shares have nearly tripled in the past 12 months and the company has a market valuation of around $100bn.
“Zoom founder Eric Yuan’s decision to transfer more than a third of his stake will raise some eyebrows,” Edward Moya, at trading firm Oanda, told the BBC.
“While a Zoom spokesperson noted that the transfer is consistent with the Yuans’ typical estate planning practices, investors will be nervous until we find out who is the recipient of the stock,” he added.
“Yuan is only 51, married and has three children, so the distribution of his wealth could be viewed as rushed.”
An MP from Angela Merkel’s party has stepped down from Germany’s parliament over a scandal about the purchase of face masks during the pandemic.
Nikolas Löbel announced he would leave the CDU party after it emerged that his firm had earned around €250,000 ($300,000) from the sales.
He initially planned to continue as an MP but said on Monday he was stepping down with immediate effect.
Another lawmaker is facing pressure over a similar case.
The news comes just a week before regional elections in two German states, including Mr Löbel’s constituency of Baden-Württemberg, where the sales took place.
As reports of the deal emerged last week, Mr Löbel said he would carry on as a lawmaker until elections in September.
However, he soon faced calls from senior politicians, including the leaders of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party the CSU, to resign his seat in parliament.
MP Lobel
“In order to avoid further damage to my party, I am resigning my parliamentary mandate with immediate effect,” Mr Löbel, 34, announced on Monday.
Another MP involved in a similar scandal about the purchase of face masks, Georg Nüsslein of the CSU, has also announced he is leaving the party and is also facing pressure to leave his seat in parliament.
The controversies come in a key election year for the CDU, with parliamentary elections scheduled for September and Chancellor Angela Merkel set to step down after more than 15 years in office.
However, a poll carried out for the Bild newspaper over the weekend found that support for the CDU/CSDU bloc had fallen to 32% – the lowest figure since the pandemic hit Germany last year.
While Germany was initially praised for its response to the pandemic, the country has struggled to contain a second wave and has been affected by the slow pace of vaccine roll-out across the EU.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that fully vaccinated Americans can return to some sense of normalcy.
Those who have received the required jabs can visit with other vaccinated people and some unvaccinated people, according to the new guidelines.
People are considered protected two weeks after they take the final dose of their vaccine, the CDC said.
Over 30 million Americans have been fully vaccinated thus far.
Health officials announced the new safety guidelines at Monday’s White House coronavirus task force briefing.
The recommendations say fully vaccinated Americans can:
Meet indoors with other fully vaccinated people without masks or social distancing
Meet indoors with unvaccinated people from a single household, if they are at low risk for severe illness from the virus
Skip testing or quarantine when exposed to Covid-19, unless symptoms appear
“We’ve begun to describe what a world looks like as we move beyond Covid-19,” senior adviser Andy Slavitt told reporters. “As more and more people get vaccinated… the list of activities will continue to grow.”
Those who are vaccinated are still required to follow other basic safety measures, like wearing masks and socially distancing in public as well as avoiding large crowds and travel.
The guidelines also call for masking and distancing from those who are unvaccinated and who may be at an elevated risk of serious Covid-related complications.
The US has seen a recent uptick in the number of jabs per day. Over 90m vaccines have been administered to date. The approval of the third vaccine, Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose jab, has also helped boost supply.
But health officials also warned that Covid-19 is still a serious concern.
“Over 90% of the population still has not been vaccinated,” CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said.
“Our responsibility is to make sure, in the context of 60,000 new cases a day, that we protect those who are vulnerable.”
The US has reported over 29 million virus cases and 525,000 deaths.
Dr Walensky added that the guidance will continue to be updated “as more people get vaccinated and science and evidence expands”.
Mr Slavitt said it was a “very hopeful morning but with continued warning signs for the future”.
Later on Monday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden will deliver his first primetime address this Thursday to mark one year under Covid-19 lockdown measures.
Last week, Mr Biden said the US will have enough coronavirus vaccines for every adult by the end of May.
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president’s office said Monday
According to AP, both are having only mild symptoms of the illness.
In a statement, Assad’s office said the first couple did PCR tests after they felt minor symptoms consistent with the COVID-19 illness and will return to work after spending between two to three weeks in isolation in their home.
Both were in “good health and in stable condition,” it added.
Not less than 20 people have been killed while 600 were injured after four powerful blasts hit the Nkoa Ntoma military camp in the economic capital Bata in Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, the state television reported.
The TVGE channel broadcast footage of wrecked and burning buildings, with people, including children, being pulled from the rubble and the wounded lying on a hospital floor.
The first blast reportedly occurred in the early afternoon and in the early evening with the TVGE referring to heavy “casualties” but said it had not determined whether there were any fatalities.
We heard the explosions and we saw the smoke, but we don’t know what’s going on,” one local resident, Teodoro Nguema, said on television.
The camp houses, among others, elements of the army’s special forces and the paramilitary gendarmerie, a journalist said.
Bata is the largest city in the oil and gas-rich nation, with around 800,000 of the nation’s 1.4 million population living there, most of them in poverty.
While it sits on the mainland, the capital Malabo is on Bioko, one of the country’s islands off the West African coast.
Equatorial Guinea has been ruled by 78-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema for nearly 42 years while his son, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, described as jet-setter, the vice president with responsibility for defense and security, often appearing on television accompanied by his Israeli bodyguards.
In December last year, the UN’s top court found in favor of France in a bitter battle over a swanky Paris property seized in a corruption probe into Teodorin.
Opposition figures and international organizations regularly accuse Obiang of committing human rights abuses.
The authoritarian leader has seen off at least half a dozen assassinations or coup attempts to become Africa’s longest-serving leader.
She narrated the ordeal that pushed her into the national struggle saying that as a teenager she hated injustice, corruption, poverty ravaging the country.
A human rights activist and co-convener of BringBackOurGirls, Aisha Yesufu, has said she joined the national advocacy shortly after her 40th birthday.
She narrated the ordeal that pushed her into the national struggle saying that as a teenager she hated injustice, corruption, poverty ravaging the country.
Yesufu said this during the International Women’s Month Special on Rubbin’ Minds programme on Channels TV, monitored by SaharaReporters Sunday.
While she said she had been fearless and making demands from life since age 4 despite the environment she grew up in, Yesufu thought she was going to be hit by a bullet and die during the #EndSARS protest last October.
“I have always been at the advocacy work. Remember my demands at the age of 4. That was actually advocating for myself. Anywhere I saw injustice, I never would look the other way.
“And so in 1992, was when I had my first protest and I was in the university. That was my year at the university and I can’t even remember what the protest was all about. There were others and that as far back as 1992.
“On the 10th of October during #EndSARS and that picture that went viral. That was not even the most moment at that event, we were protesting and the police started shooting teargas canisters, everybody ran away.
“I refused to run away, I raised my hand and walked slowly and the police were shooting at me and I could hear the bullets flying. I could see the teargas canister.
“At that moment, I thought I was going to die literally and I said to God, I said look, let it be one single shot and be gone. Because I didn’t want a situation whereby I would be on the floor in pain and some policemen would stand over me and be gloating.”
Speaking on the courage that she has garnered for her to be at the forefront of battles against the excesses of government, she attributed it to reading a lot of books from childhood. She also talked about her financial freedom which has contributed to her voice in society.
“Maybe it was from the books I read because I used to be an avid reader. I was extremely stubborn. Maybe the children called stubborn children, I was one of them. I do not fear any man, I only respect. I was less than 10 when I said to myself that the worst thing any human being can do to me is to kill me and I’m going to die anyway, so that’s not really the worst thing.
“But in the case of national advocacy, for me, it came after my 40th birthday. I turned 40 on the 12 of December, 2013 and I realised I had become the problem of Nigeria. As a teenager I hated Nigeria, I hated the injustice, I hated the corruption, I hated the poverty, I hated the fact that adults were doing nothing while our country was going this way. And one day, I was 40 and I realised I had become the adult who was also doing nothing and there were also children that were my age who were going through so much right now and I said to myself from now on, I am going to focus on national issues.
“But before I focused on a national issue, I have to work on something and that was my financial independence. Remember, I grew up poor. When you’re poor in Nigeria, you are faceless, nameless, and voiceless. You are seen as nothing. You’re cancelled already and I never wanted that for my life. So, all through up to 40, I worked on my financial independence. I’m a trader, I’m a businesswoman. I buy and sell.
“On that 40th birthday, I said to myself I’m going to give Nigeria the next 40 years of my life if God gives me another 40 years and four months after, Chibok girls happened. And when that happened, I joined the protest, and Nigerians heard me loud and clear.”
Contrary to reports concerning a fire outbreak in Aso Rock, the nation’s seat of power, on the night of Saturday, March 6, 2021, the presidency has said there was no such incident. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu in a statement on Sunday said, ‘there was no fire inside the Presidential Villa.” Garba, however, clarified that what was speculated to be a fire outbreak around Aso Rock was a bush fire in the area between the Villa and the Barracks, towards Asokoro.
He said, “People in the country and even abroad have been expressing concerns over reports of a fire incident in Aso Rock Villa, the seat of the Nigerian government. I would like to clarify that there was no fire inside the Presidential Villa. “In the evening of Saturday, March 6, a fire broke out, burning shrubs between the outer wire fence and walls surrounding the Villa, precisely in the area between the Villa and the Barracks, towards Asokoro.
“The fire, as being speculated, might have started from a passerby dropping a burning cigarette. The Federal Fire Service will ascertain the reason for it when they complete their investigation. “It suffices to say that this bush fire, which started and ended outside the perimeter walls of the Villa, was seamlessly contained by fire stations of the State House and the one nearby from the Federal Fire Service. No loss of life, no loss whatsoever to building and property was recorded.” The incident comes nine months after a fire incident near the Aso Rock villa chapel in 2020.
The Presidency has promised to investigate the “Bush fire incident recorded outside villa perimeter” on Saturday night.
Contrary to the claim made in a viral video that the fire incident was recorded inside the Presidential villa, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the incident was no where near the villa.
In a statement on Sunday, Shehu said the fire that broke out “between the outer wire fence and walls surrounding the Villa.” He added that the “bush fire” started and ended outside the perimeter walls of the Villa. “People in the country and even abroad have been expressing concerns over reports of a fire incident in Aso Rock Villa, the seat of the Nigerian government.
“I would like to clarify that there was no fire inside the Presidential Villa. “In the evening of Saturday, March 6, a fire broke out burning shrubs between the outer wire fence and walls surrounding the Villa, precisely in the area between the Villa and the Barracks, towards Asokoro. “The fire, as being speculated, might have started from a passer-by dropping a burning cigarette. The Federal Fire Service will ascertain the reason for it when they complete their investigation. “It suffices to say that this bush fire, which started and ended outside the perimeter walls of the Villa, was seamlessly contained by fire stations of the State House and the one nearby from the Federal Fire Service. No loss of life, no loss whatsoever to building and property was recorded. “We thank well-meaning Nigerians for expressed concerns.” the statement read.
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