Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced he has tested positive for Covid-19.
The 67-year-old said on Twitter that his symptoms were mild and that he was “optimistic” following the diagnosis.
The development comes as Mexico grapples with an upsurge in infections, with deaths nearing 150,000.
image captionThe leader says he is “optimistic” and is recieving medical treatment
Mr López Obrador says he will continue working from home, including speaking to President Vladimir Putin about acquiring a Russian-made vaccine.
It was announced earlier on Sunday that a call between the two leaders will take place on Monday to discuss their bilateral relationship and the possible supply of Sputnik V jabs.
The Mexican president said last year he would try and acquire 12 million doses of the Russian-made vaccine if it proved effective.
Mexico has not yet approved the jab for use, but officials want to expand the country’s vaccination program for the population of 128 million people amid delivery delays from Pfizer-BioNTech.
José Luis Alomia Zegarra, a senior health official, described Mr López Obrador’s condition as stable and told a news briefing that “a team of medical specialists” were attending to the president.
Mexico has recorded more than 1.75m virus cases since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University tracking.
The nation’s confirmed death toll of 149,614 is one of the highest in the world – behind only the US, Brazil and India.
Israel has started vaccinating 16 to 18-year-olds against Covid-19, in an effort to enable them to sit exams.
More than a quarter of Israel’s population of nine million have received at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine since 19 December, its health ministry says.
It started with the elderly and others at high risk, but people aged 40 and over can also now get the jab.
Israel hopes to start reopening its economy in February.
The inclusion of 16 to 18-year-olds – with parental permission – is meant “to enable their return (to school) and the orderly holding of exams”, an education ministry spokeswoman said.
The matriculation exams that Israeli students sit at the end of high school play an important role in deciding where they will go to university. Their results can also affect their placement in the military, where many young Israelis do compulsory service.
The education ministry has said it is too early to say whether schools will reopen next month.
Israel started its rapid vaccination drive – the fastest in the world – in on 19 December, reaching 10% of its population by the end of 2020.
Israel has recorded more than 596,000 cases and 4,392 deaths with Covid-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.
On Sunday, the government said it would ban passenger flights in and out of the country from Monday night for the rest of January, in an effort to halt the spread of new virus variants.
“Other than rare exceptions, we are closing the sky hermetically to prevent the entry of the virus variants and also to ensure that we progress quickly with our vaccination campaign,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Foreigners have largely been blocked from entering Israel during the pandemic.
A court has ruled that French arms supplier Thales will have to face charges in South Africa over allegedly corrupt payments made to embattled former President Jacob Zuma.
The Times Live website in a report on Saturday said that the order was issued by Judge Alsa Bezuidenhout who ruled that there was reasonable and probable cause to believe that Thales had “directly or indirectly or with common purpose, participated in the enterprise run by Mr Schabir Shaik through a pattern of racketeering activity”.
In its reply, Thales South Africa, denied the allegations, adding that it had “noted” the high court’s decision and was “studying the judgement to consider its legal options”.
This came weeks after Zuma failed in an attempt to have a judge recuse himself from the inquiry into alleged corruption during his presidency.
Judge Raymond Zondo had ruled that claims that he was biased against Mr Zuma had not been made. He also denied being “friends” with the former president.
The police in Russia have arrested no fewer than 3,000 supporters of jailed Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, and also violently broke up rallies across Russia as tens of thousands of protesters marched through the country.
Reports say many protesters ignored extreme cold and police warnings to demand the immediate release of Navalny who was arrested shortly after arriving Russia from Germany.
Prosecutors in St Petersburg said in a statement late Saturday they were probing violations including “on the part of law enforcement” and the use of force against an unidentified woman.
“There were violent clashes with the police using their batons to beat them down,” Al Jazeera’s Aleksandra Godfroid, reporting from Moscow, said.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia, said on social media she was detained at the rally and later released. Lyubov Sobol, a prominent aide of Navalny and lawyer, was also among those held.
Yesterday, scores of Navalny supporters clashed with police in Russia over the continued detention of the opposition leader who recently arrived from Germany.
Reports say scuffles broke out early in the morning as Navalny’s supporters gathered in Khabarovsk despite elaborate measures by the government to curb demonstrations planned in more than 60 Russian cities.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has sacked the heads of US media organizations appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Those affected in the mass sack on Saturday, include the acting chief of the US Agency for Global Media, and the directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, The Independent reports.
Before now, Biden had also forced Trump’s pick to run the USAGM to resign within hours of resuming office, a move political analysts say was meant to start on a new footing without having any of Trump’s appointees around him.
The latest changes come just a day after the director of Voice of America and his deputy were removed and the chief of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting stood down.
The now former head of the USAGM, Michael Pack, had been accused by Democrats of trying to turn the networks into pro-Trump propaganda outfits.
All of those fired by the acting CEO of USAGM, Kelu Chao, were appointed by Pack in December after he claimed that its newsrooms were filled with anti-Trump journalists.
It is unclear if the firings of Victoria Coates of MEBN, Stephen Yates of RFA and Ted Lipien of RFE, will be subject to legal challenges but Chao was quoted as saying in a memo to staff before the sackings:
“We have a lot of work ahead of us: reaffirm the firewall, the highest standards of professionalism, and the sacred editorial independence and journalistic integrity; and ensure the safety and security of our journalists.”
A 26-year-old Nigerian woman, Jacinta Okonowo Ofana has been arrested by the police in India for allegedly defrauding an Indian women as well as impersonating a Customs officer with the intent to commit crime.
According to Mumbai Mirror, Ofana was arrested by the Vinoba Bhave Nagar police in Delhiba on Saturday for allegedly defrauding a 34-year-old woman in Kurla of Rs 17.22 lakh by posing as a Customs officer.
In a police report, the suspect was also said to have defrauded several women of huge sums of money in the same way.
Police say Ofana’s latest victim who is a divorcee, had met a man on social media in August last year and the man introduced himself as Andrea Olivera from the United Kingdom.
The man claimed to be a pilot working in Russia.
The police statement reads:
“The two exchanged their numbers and started talking and after weeks of contact and dozens of conversations later, Olivera asked for her address to be sent to her on the pretext.
“Even after her reluctance to receive gifts, he insisted on sending her one. A few days later, Olivera told her he had sent her a gift and notes in foreign currency.
“A few days later, the victim received a call from a woman who identified herself as Ankita Sharma from Customs.
“She told her that there was a package for her from Russia, but she had to pay a customs clearance fee online. She told the victim that the box contained a gift and foreign currency worth Rs 65 lakh and that she would have to pay a fee and taxes to get her hands on the package.
“After paying Rs 17.22 lakh in multiple transactions, the woman realised she had been duped.
“She then approached VB Nagar police station and filed a complaint.
“Police soon identified the exact location of the caller, Ankita Sharma, in New Delhi.
“A team consisting of police sub-inspectors Jitendra Sapkale and Ambika Ghaste were sent to Delhi where they arrested Ofana, posing as Ankita Sharma, to mislead the victim.
“She used more than a dozen international and local SIM cards to trick women.”
Oyo police command says one police officer was killed during the mob action in Igangan on Friday.
As the police begin an investigation into the violence that erupted in Igangan, Ibarapa North Local Government Area of Oyo State on Friday, January 22, 2021, the state Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko has appealed to youths in the state to remain calm.
The police boss also vowed to bring those responsible for the burning of properties in Fulani settlement and other criminal activities in the town to justice.
Recall that following the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum a Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo issued to the Fulani in Oyo state, the activist and his supporters stormed Igangan to eject Seriki Fulani and herdsmen accused of perpetrating crimes in the town.
Two people were reportedly killed during the confrontation between the Yoruba youths led by Adeyemo better known as Sunday Igboho and the Fulani community in Igangan.Some properties belonging to the Fulani in the area were also reportedly set ablaze by the youths.
The state Commissioner of Police, Ngozi Onadeko.
Following the clash, the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu ordered Onadeko to arrest Igboho and bring him to Abuja.
However, in a statement signed by Olugbenga Fadeyi, the Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo on Sunday, January 24, 2021, the Oyo police command said one officer was also injured while discharging his duty during the mob action.
The statement reads in part; “Sadly, the relative peace and calmness, being enjoyed, due to the visibility patrols of the security agencies were truncated by the visit of Sunday Igboho to Igangan, at about 1630hrs on 22nd January 2021.
“The visit had culminated in a mob action by some youths in the town, who, armed with different types of weapons, embarked on arson and a breach of peace. In the process, grievous hurt was committed against one of the police officers, while discharging his statutory duties.
“The commissioner of police will like to reiterate that the security agencies will not watch while some criminal elements take laws into their hands.
“Investigation into the arson and the breach of the peace, which occurred at Igangan will be investigated to logical conclusion and culprits shall be brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, former Governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose has cautioned the Inspector-General of Police and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State against the plan to arrest Igboho.
He advised them to use dialogues to solve the herders-farmers crisis in Oyo rather than arresting the activist.
The National President of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Bello Abdullahi Bodejo, has declared that nobody has the power to remove Fulani herdsmen from Ondo State’s forests.
Bodejo stated this in an interview with The Sun, noting that all lands in the country belong to the Fulani.
He also said only Fulani herdsmen could tackle the bandits kidnapping and killing people across the country.
The Fulani leader stated this just as the seven-day ultimatum the Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, issued to herdsmen to leave forest reserves in the state expired today, Sunday.
He said, “The Ondo State governor doesn’t have any right to give such ultimatum to our people. People, including Fulani voted for him to be the governor; so he should be the governor of everybody in the state.
“Fulani have been in the forests he is talking about even before he was born; they have been there for over 250 years. No matter how dangerous a forest may be, Fulani would go and settle there.
“After staying there for a long time and their cow dung has made the place fertile, people would begin to come there to farm and settle and after then, they begin to make claims that our cattle are destroying their farms.
“We are suing the governor and seeking an injunction restraining him and others from carrying out his threat. But even at that, nobody, no power can send the herdsmen out of Ondo State.
“We are making consultations with our legal team. But before then, the governor and his people should stop embarrassing our people in the forests and all their businesses. No herdsman will obey the governor; the herdsmen will not step an inch out of Ondo forests; they are going nowhere.”
The Miyetti Allah leader added that his group was also against the herdsmen kidnapping and robbing people while also operating from forests.
“We are not in support of any form of criminality — armed robbery, kidnapping, gun running, etc. These crimes are the reasons why we have the Nigeria Police Force, Nigerian Army, Department of State Services, and even the Nigeria Security Civil Defence Corps to nab perpetrators. And there are courts everywhere to try them and if found guilty, appropriate punishments should be meted out to them.
Miyetti Allah Leader, Bodejo.
“I have just concluded a meeting with my fellow Fulani and we have found out that some people will adorn Fulani attire to carry out various crimes.
“How can a Fulani man living in the forest kidnap and ask people to pay ransoms ranging from N5 million to N10 million? What will he be doing with that kind of money inside the forest? If you pay herdsmen N20 million, N10 million, N5 million in the forest, where will he carry the money to and what will he be doing with such money?” he added.
President Biden’s administration on Friday revoked a last-minute memo issued by former President Trump’s Justice Department that sought to limit the scope of a landmark Supreme Court decision on workplace discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
Greg Friel, the acting head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, on Friday issued a memo revoking a Trump administration directive in response to the Supreme Court’s June 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County. The justices ruled in a 6-3 decision that the country’s laws on sex discrimination in the workplace also apply to discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump Justice Department’s 23-page memo dated Sunday said the court’s ruling should not extend to areas where gender-based policies on bathrooms and sports teams are relevant. The memo also indicated that employers could cite religious beliefs as justification for discrimination against LGBTQ employees.
However, Friday’s move, first reported by Politico, revoked the Trump administration’s memo, with Friel arguing that the directive conflicted with a Wednesday executive order from Biden that committed the federal government to preventing any type of discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
“I have determined that this memorandum is inconsistent in many respects with the E.O.,” Friel wrote in his Friday directive to civil rights division colleagues, according to Politico. “I plan to confer with Department leadership about issuing revised guidance that comports with the policy set forth in the E.O. As part of that process, we will seek the input of Division subject matter experts.”
Biden’s executive order, one of several actions taken on his first day in office, calls on federal government agencies to review current policies against sex discrimination to make sure they prohibit discrimination toward members of the LGBTQ community.
“Every person should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love,” the order states. “Adults should be able to earn a living and pursue a vocation knowing that they will not be fired, demoted, or mistreated because of whom they go home to or because how they dress does not conform to sex-based stereotypes.”
“All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation,” the order adds.
Sunday’s memo from former acting Assistant Attorney General John Daukas, released publicly one day before Trump left office, sided with Justice Samuel Alito’s dissent in the Bostock case.
“We must hesitate to apply the reasoning of Bostock to different texts, adopted at different times, in different contexts,” Daukas wrote.
“Unlike racial discrimination, the Supreme Court has never held that a religious employer’s decision not to hire homosexual or transgender persons ‘violates deeply and widely accepted views of elementary justice’ or that the government has a ‘compelling’ interest in the eradication of such conduct,” the memo added, according to the Journal.
Joe Biden briefly worked as an attorney before turning to politics. He became the fifth-youngest U.S. senator in history as well as Delaware’s longest-serving senator. His 2008 presidential campaign never gained momentum, but Democratic nominee Barack Obama selected him as his running mate, and Biden went on to serve two terms as the 47th vice president of the United States.
In 2017, at the close of his administration, Obama presented Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Two years later Biden launched his campaign for U.S. president and was elected as the 46th president of the United States.
President Joe Biden speaks during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021.(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
EARLY YEARS
Long before reaching one of the highest political offices in the nation, Biden — born on November 20, 1942 — grew up in the blue-collar city of Scranton in northeast Pennsylvania. His father, Joseph Biden Sr., worked cleaning furnaces and as a used car salesman. His mother was Catherine Eugenia “Jean” Finnegan.
Biden credits his parents with instilling in him toughness, hard work and perseverance. He has recalled his father frequently saying, “Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.” He’s also said that when he would come home sullen because he had been bullied by one of the bigger kids in the neighborhood, his mother would tell him, “Bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day!'”
Biden attended St. Paul’s Elementary School in Scranton. In 1955, when he was 13 years old, the family moved to Mayfield, Delaware—a rapidly growing middle-class community sustained primarily by the nearby DuPont chemical company.
As a child, Biden struggled with a stutter, and kids called him “Dash” and “Joe Impedimenta” to mock him. He eventually overcame his speech impediment by memorizing long passages of poetry and reciting them out loud in front of the mirror.
Biden attended the St. Helena School until he gained acceptance into the prestigious Archmere Academy. Although he had to work by washing the school windows and weeding the gardens to help his family afford tuition, Biden had long dreamed of attending the school, which he called “the object of my deepest desire, my Oz.”
At Archmere, Biden was a solid student and, despite his small size, a standout receiver on the football team. “He was a skinny kid,” his coach remembered, “but he was one of the best pass receivers I had in 16 years as a coach.” Biden graduated from Archmere in 1961.
COLLEGE, MARRIAGE AND LAW SCHOOL
Biden attended the nearby University of Delaware, where he studied history and political science and played football. He would later admit that he spent his first two years of college far more interested in football, girls and parties than academics. But he also developed a sharp interest in politics during these years, spurred in part by the inspiring inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
On a spring break trip to the Bahamas during his junior year, Biden met a Syracuse University student named Neilia Hunter and, in his own words, “fell ass over tin cup in love — at first sight.” Encouraged by his new love, he applied himself more fully to his studies and was accepted into the Syracuse University Law School upon his graduation from Delaware in 1965. Biden and Hunter married the next year, in 1966.
Biden was at best a mediocre law student. During his first year at Syracuse, he flunked a class for failing to properly cite a reference to a law review article. Although he claimed it was an accidental oversight, the incident would haunt him later in his career.
Joe Biden and first wife, Neilia, with sons Hunter and Beau, cut his 30th birthday cake at a party in Wilmington, Delaware on November 20, 1972
Joe Biden with his first wife, Neilia; Amy, Biden’s infant daughter who tragically died in a car accident
image captionGiuseppe Conte has vowed to take legal action against the two companies
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says a delay in the supply of coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca is “unacceptable”.
Both companies have warned they will not be able to deliver vaccines to the EU as agreed due to production issues.
Mr Conte has accused them of serious contract violations.
A senior Italian health official has warned that the country will have to rethink its vaccination programme if supply issues continue.
The AstraZeneca vaccine, developed by Oxford University, has not yet been given EU approval; however the bloc’s drug regulator is expected to give it the green light at the end of this month.
A spokesman for AstraZeneca said on Friday that “initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated” without giving further details.
Officials have not confirmed publicly how big the shortfall will be, but an unnamed EU official told Reuters news agency that deliveries would be reduced to 31m – a cut of 60% – in the first quarter of this year.
The drug firm had been set to deliver about 80m doses to the 27 nations by March, according to the official who spoke to Reuters.
Last week Pfizer announced it was slowing supplies to Europe to make manufacturing changes that will boost capacity. The EU has ordered 600 million doses from Pfizer.
On Saturday, Mr Conte wrote on Facebook: “Our vaccination plan … has been drawn up on the basis of contractual pledges freely undertaken by pharmaceutical companies with the European Commission.”
“Such delays in deliveries represent serious contractual violations, which cause enormous damage to Italy and other countries,” he added.
The head of Italy’s Higher Health Council Franco Locatelli said Pfizer deliveries were 29% lower than planned this week but the levels were expected to return to those agreed by 1 February.
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny is a Russian opposition leader, politician, lawyer and anti-corruption activist. He came to international prominence by organizing demonstrations, and running for office, to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Putin’s government.
Navalny is an anti-corruption campaigner and the most prominent face of Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin
He attempted to stand in the 2018 presidential race, but was barred because of an embezzlement conviction that he says was politically motivated
An outspoken blogger, he has millions of Russian followers on social media and managed to get some supporters elected to local councils in Siberia in 2020
Russian police have detained more than 2,000 people in a crackdown on protests in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, monitors say.
Tens of thousands of people defied a heavy police presence to join some of the largest rallies against President Vladimir Putin in recent years.
In Moscow, riot police were seen beating and dragging away protesters.
Mr Navalny, President Putin’s most high-profile critic, called for protests after his arrest last Sunday.
He was detained after he flew back to Moscow from Berlin, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal nerve agent attack in Russia last August.
On his return, he was immediately taken into custody and found guilty of violating parole conditions. He says it is a trumped-up case designed to silence him.
OVD Info, an independent NGO that monitors rallies, said about 2,800 people had been detained, more than 1,000 of them in Moscow alone. The Kremlin has not commented.
The unauthorised demonstrations were held from Russia’s Far East and Siberia to Moscow and St Petersburg. Protesters ranged from teenage students to elderly people who demanded Mr Navalny’s release.
At least 40,000 people joined a rally in central Moscow, Reuters news agency estimated. Observers say this was the largest protest in the capital since the demonstrations of 2019. But Russia’s interior ministry put the number of protesters at 4,000.
The soldiers’ action has forced traditional rulers and monarchs in the affected communities to write a save-our-soul petition to the Nigerian Army authorities demanding protection from the harassment of soldiers and herdsmen.
There is tension in the Ketu-speaking villages in the Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State after soldiers escorted herdsmen to graze in the communities, and brutalised some residents in defence of the herders.
The soldiers’ action has forced traditional rulers and monarchs in the affected communities to write a save-our-soul petition to the Nigerian Army authorities demanding protection from the harassment of soldiers and herdsmen.
According to The Nation, one of the victims is Seye Mulero, who was severely injured in Ubeku village in Yewa North and is currently receiving medical treatment.
The herdsmen, who had left the village after the villagers rejected their continued presence, suddenly resurfaced at about 2 pm on December 19, 2020, with a handful of soldiers from the 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.
The soldiers headed straight for the palace of the community’s traditional ruler, Chief Olaleye Adigun, calling out the villagers and warning them against preventing the evicted herdsmen from returning to the village.
In the middle of this strange encounter, Mulero told the soldiers that the herders would not be allowed to remain in the community because of their brutal killing of residents and the destruction of their farmlands in recent times.
Mulero said, “Everyone was frightened by the action and utterances of the soldiers, but I summoned the courage to tell them how a Geography teacher Mr. Yomi Akinola and two students of Community High School, Ibeku, among others, were killed by the herdsmen while our women were raped and killed on their ways to the farm.”
But Mulero and Ubeku village were not the only person and area that tasted the bile of the soldiers who escorted the herdsmen in a military patrol van from one village to another. Innocent indigenes of Iselu, Ibeku, Agbon-Ojodu, Asa and other villages were also harassed and assaulted by the soldiers at the instance of the herdsmen.
After leaving Ubeku, the herders and the complicit soldiers moved to neighbouring Asa, where they reenacted the Ubeku scenario, causing the hapless villagers to panic.
At Asa, the herders sighted Mulero’s brother, Gabriel Mulero, accusing him of being among the crowd that jeered them after his brother was beaten up.
There and then, the soldiers seized the young man, giving him some deafening slaps and kicking him mercilessly before whisking him away to a neighbouring village, Agbon-Ojodu, where they dropped him off after elders of the community pleaded for his release.
Worried by the development, monarchs of the affected communities petitioned the Nigeria Army over alleged connivance of its men with herdsmen to assault and harass villagers.
The monarchs are the Oniggua of Iggualand, Oba Micheal Adeleye Dosumu; the Eselu of Iseluland, Oba Akintunde Ebenezer Akinyemi; and the Alademeso of Igan Alade, Oba Gabriel Olukunle Olalowo.
The petition titled ‘matter of urgency’ dated January 7, 2021, signed by their lawyer, Mr. Olaoluwa Folalu, was addressed to the Brigade Commander of 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta.
On Saturday, the IPOB leader stated that it was better for the CP to resign than to allow the arrest and killing of Igboho and other protesting Yoruba youths, as had been subtly approved by the Presidency.
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has advised the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko, not to superintend over the arrest and killing of a popular Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, otherwise known as Sunday Igboho, and other agitators over the continuous herdsmen attacks.
On Saturday, the IPOB leader stated that it was better for the CP to resign than to allow the arrest and killing of Igboho and other protesting Yoruba youths, as had been subtly approved by the Presidency.
Oyo CP Ngozi Onadeko
Kanu added in a release by IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, that the CP, being an Igbo woman, must not succumb to the Federal Government’s devices to silence the South-West agitations.
He said, “You are an Igbo woman, so I expect you to be reasonable enough to know that the Fulani IGP posted you to Oyo to superintend the arrest or possible killing of Yoruba youths to ferment enmity between the East and the West at this critical juncture in the history of the liberation of all indigenous peoples across Nigeria, including you and your family.
“I will advise you to resign honourably from your position as a certain Yoruba CP did in Abia State when he declined to order men under his command to open fire on IPOB protesters.
“I am warning you not to do anything likely to jeopardise the safety or well-being of Sunday Igboho otherwise you and your family will have the might of IPOB to contend with. The silly game you people always play in that zoo will no longer wash with us.
“Suddenly Fulani have realised that appointing an Igbo woman as Police Commissioner is a good thing because they want to use you. Nothing should happen to Igboho.”
Afenifere says the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) cannot threaten the south-west with a civil war.
Following the call by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) on the Federal Government to stop attacks on Fulani communities in South-west to prevent another civil war, Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere has told the ACF not to threaten the region with a war.
On Friday, January 22, 2021, some cars and houses inhabited by the Fulani at Igangan in the Ibarapa Local Government Area of Oyo state were set ablaze after a Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho and his supporters stormed the town.
Two people reportedly died due to the subsequent clash between Yoruba youths and the Fulani in the area. Reacting to the incident in a statement, Emmanuel Yawe, the National Publicity Secretary of the ACF said such act may destabilise the country. He added that the civil war started with such attacks.
The statement reads in part: “The Arewa Consultative Forum this morning received reports of an attack by Yoruba Youths on Alhaji Saliu Abdulkadir, the Serki Fulani in Oyo State. “In the reports, he was attacked and driven out of his house, eleven cars and his house burnt with his family members now living in the bush.
Chief Audu Ogbe and other members of the Arewa Consultative Forum.
There are allegations that one Sunday Igboho an agitator for Oodua Republic and who issued an ultimatum giving Fulani people seven days to leave Yorubaland is the instigator of the attack.
“The most disturbing aspect of the attack is the allegation that the security agents who were earlier warned about its imminence stood by helplessly as the attack was carried out.
“The ACF is worried about this trend and calls on the Federal and State Governments in the South West to move quickly to avert a social upheaval that may destabilize the whole country.
“We recall that the civil war in the 60’s started with attacks and counter-attacks like this. The governments must be proactive and stop history from repeating itself.
However, Afenifere has described the ACF’s statement as insulting and arrogant.
The National Publicity Secretary of the group, Yinka Odumakin the ACF cannot threaten the south-west with a civil war.
“While we have gone to a great length to sue for peace and have appealed to our pained people to be law-abiding even with the daily provocations of the Fulani and harassment of our people, we frown at the very arrogant and insulting ACF statement, especially their reference to the event of 1966.
“We must make it clear to them that they cannot threaten us with a war at this stage as we will not provoke war but never are we going to run for anybody on our land.
“We are miffed that a body like ACF that has never shown any remorse over the killing of our people can open their mouths anyhow now because there are consequences for the irresponsible actions of their people,” Odumakin said.
Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police, Adamu Mohammed has ordered the arrest of Igboho over the eviction notice he issued to herdsmen in Oyo.
The IGP has reportedly directed the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Ngozi Onadeko to arrest Igboho and transfer him Abuja.
A former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala has advised Governor Seyi Makinde of the state, to without further delay convene a council of state meeting.
Alao-Akala noted that the meeting was necessary in view of the current security situation in the state.
DAILY POST gathered that Oyo State in the last few days has been engulfed by a series of unrest occasioned by kidnapping, attacks and killing of innocent citizens.
Alao-Akala, however, explained that such meetings would be relevant in order to brainstorm on the security challenges facing the state.
The former Governor who ruled the state between 2007 and 2011 made this call while speaking with journalists shortly after an expanded meeting of the Elders Advisory Council of the All Progressives Congress held on Saturday at his Awosika residence in Ibadan.
Alao Akala
He advised Makinde to convene the meeting which will have in attendance former Governors of the state, both military and civilian governors.
Alao-Akala said, “A council of state meeting consisting of all former Governor’s of the state both uniformed and civilian is necessary at this point to save our dear state from total collapse security-wise.
“A council of state meeting is a statutory organ of government and its function includes advising the executive on policy making.
“Gov. Seyi Makinde needs help in the area of maintaining law and order in the polity hence he should not shy away from that fact. He needs to sit down and brainstorm with people who have been there before him to share from their wealth of experience on how certain things are done especially in the area of security.
“Take for instance, at the National level, the President meets periodically with former heads of state and former Presidents, all former Chief Justices amongst others at the Nigerian Council of state meeting to review activities of Government and seek for advice and interventions where need be.
“This is exactly what he needs in Oyo state at the moment, the peace and stability of Oyo state is a collective responsibility of all, we are all stakeholders in the Oyo state Project.
“We have seasoned, well trained Retired Generals who have been Military Administrator of Oyo state at one time or the other who are still alive, we have civilian governors who have been on that seat before Governor Makinde so also are retired Chief Judges of the state who will have one or two advises to offer to nip in the bud all these security challenges before it gets out of control.
“Part of the duties of the council of state is also to advise whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the federation and any part thereof and in such other matters as may be desired so Governor Seyi Makinde will very much be in order if he convenes this strategic meeting as a stitch in time saves nine”.
The government of Zimbabwe has confirmed the death of two serving ministers who both died after contracting the deadly COVID-19 disease.
This was contained in a statement issued on Saturday by the deputy health minister John Mangwiro who said that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died after falling ill with COVID-19, less than two days after the country lost Foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo to the same disease.
He also revealed plans to intensify the current lockdown, which has been in place since early January and includes a strict nightly curfew.
“We are in a dark cloud that we have to clear very soon,” the deputy health minister said.
Mangwiro also said that restaurants, bars and gyms have also been forced to close.
“We have seen people not adhering to the lockdown regulations announced early this month,” he added.
Reports say Zimbabwe has registered 30,523 cases of infection since the start of the pandemic, including 962 deaths.
A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary order that will require the Treasury Department to give former President Trump’s personal lawyers 72 hours notice before providing Trump’s tax returns to House Democrats.
Judge Trevor McFadden, a judge in federal district court in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, directed the Treasury Department and IRS to provide Trump’s personal lawyers with the three-days notice before providing the former president’s tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The order lasts until Feb 5.McFadden announced the order at a teleconference held Friday. The hearing had been requested by Trump’s lawyers in order to get clarity on how House Democrats’ lawsuit over their tax return request was going to proceed under the new administration.
Now that Trump is out of office, the Treasury is a part of the Biden administration, which must determine how it plans to address House Democrats’ request for Trump’s tax returns.
Trump’s lawyers expressed concerns that the Biden administration could provide House Democrats with Trump’s tax returns without giving them advance notice and a chance to have their claims heard.
James Gilligan, a lawyer for the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is representing Treasury and the IRS, said the department doesn’t know if the Biden administration has reached a decision yet on whether it will provide the requested tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee.
“This is only their second full day in office,” he said.
Donald Trump
DOJ proposed that 72 hours notice be provided to Trump’s lawyers in the next two weeks to maintain the status quo in the case for a short period of time.
The Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS in 2019, after the agencies refused to comply with requests and subpoenas for Trump’s personal and business tax returns.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) made the request under 6103 of the federal tax code, which states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” tax returns requested by the chairs of Congress’s tax committees. He has said the committee is interested in obtaining the documents because it is conducting oversight and considering legislation related to how the IRS enforces tax laws against a president. But the Trump administration argued that Neal’s request lacked a legitimate legislative purpose.
House counsel Douglas Letter said at Friday’s hearing that the Ways and Means Committee’s lawsuit is still live because the panel still wants to obtain Trump’s tax returns. He said that the request for Trump’s tax returns made under section 6103 did not expire when the new Congress began earlier this month, and that Neal has been authorized by the House’s rules package to reissue the subpoenas as necessary.
McFadden said he’s “very sympathetic” to Trump’s desire to have his day in court before Treasury provides any of the former president’s tax returns to Congress. He suggested that if Treasury decides that it intends to comply with House Democrats’ request, that he might enter an order that would require Trump’s lawyers to be provided notice before the documents could be turned over.
A Ukrainian man has been arrested for killing his father and wearing the dead man’s intestines on his neck.
Dmitry Ponomarenko from Odessa is accused of stabbing his 53-year-old dad multiple times on Jan 20, 2021, after an argument broke out between them.
A Kiev district court was told that Ponomarenko cut off his father’s head and ripped open his stomach, before turning the knife on a 32-year-old neighbour who rented a room from the family, killing him instantly.
The prosecutor in court claims that then Ponomarenko, who reportedly has a wife and small child, went out into the street with his father’s head and intestines around his neck. Local media claimed Ponomarenko emerged from his flat on January 20 covered in blood and was hitting cars with his dad’s head.
One resident told a reporter: “A naked and bloodied man, wrapped in guts and holding the head of a man came out of the front, sat on a bench and lit a cigarette.” While being questioned by police on the day he killed his father and their 32-year-old tenant, he told police that “he is a god who is not worshipped”.
Before the court session, Ponomarenko told reporters that the murder was “a ritual in which I convinced myself that I was all around, and that everyone was watching me and I was watching everyone.”
Prosecutor Valery Boldyrev asked for Ponomarenko to remain in custody, arguing that he had no permanent place of residence or work and could commit a crime again.
Ponomarenko himself pleaded guilty and said that he “should be kept in custody.”
A police spokesman said on the day of the killings: “We received calls from shocked people reporting a man walking in the neighbourhood with a severed head in his hand.”
According to reports, he was fired from his job at the Duke Hotel the previous day for being under the influence of drugs and inappropriate behaviour.
When asked why he had carried out the killings, Ponomarenko allegedly told witnesses “he had to”. Ponomarenko could face 15 years in prison if convicted of double murder.
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