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The 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump through his official twitter account, announced that he’ll not attend the Inauguration ceremony of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion.Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history — and marks a dramatic financial turnaround for the famed entrepreneur.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin, September 3, 2020.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion.
Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to
Musk started 2020 worth about $27 billion, and was barely in the top 50 richest people.
Tesla’s rocketing share price — which has increased more than nine-fold over the past year — along with his generous pay package have added more than $150 billion to his net worth.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s share price has remained more subdued due to the potential for increased regulation from Washington.
Elon Musk passed Warren Buffett in July to become the seventh richest person. In November, Musk raced past Bill Gates to become the second richest person. Musk has gained more wealth over the past 12 months than Bill Gates’ entire net worth of $132 billion.
Tesla’s shares were recently trading at about $790, up more than 4% in trading Thursday. The company’s market value has grown to $737.6 billion.
The minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work
The Nigerian Government has directed the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission to suspend the recently adjusted electricity tariff.
The Minister of Power, Sale Mamman, made this known in a statement on Thursday.
NERC had on Tuesday increased the electricity tariff payable by power consumers across the country. The hike in tariff which varies, based on different consumer classes, took effect from January 1, 2021.
The regulatory agency blamed the N2 to N4 adjustment in tariff on inflation and movement in foreign exchange rates. Labour unions have threatened showdown over the development, saying the government was insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, considering the fact that there was an increment in the last two months.
But in the statement on Thursday, the minister said there was a committee working on the new electricity tariff regime and the committee should be allowed to complete its work before any development or adjustment.
Mamman, therefore, directed NERC to suspend the recent increment until the committee concludes its work by end of January.
He said, “The public is aware that the Federal Government and the Labour Centers have been engaged in positive discussions about the electricity sector through a joint ad-hoc Committee led by the Minister of State for Labour and Productivity and Co-Chaired by the Minister of State for Power. Great progress has been made in these deliberations which are set to be concluded at the end of January, 2021.
“To promote a constructive conclusion of the dialogue with the Labour Centers (through the Joint Ad-Hoc Committee), I have directed NERC to forestall the implementation of the duly performed minor review (which adjusted tariffs between N2 per kWh and N4 per kWh) until the conclusion of the Joint Ad Hoc Committee’s work at the end of January 2021.
“This will allow for the outcome of all resolutions from the Committee to be implemented together. The Administration is committed to creating a sustainable, growing, and rules-based electricity market for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
No casualties were recorded at the scene of incident, according to LASEMA.
An accident involving a fuel tanker has resulted in a massive fire outbreak in Lagos State.
The tanker, loaded with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), exploded at Toyota Bus Stop along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway on Thursday, January 7, 2021.
The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) said the tanker exploded after it disconnected from its turntable head due to reckless driving.
“The impact of the collision with the ground resulted in the spark and subsequent explosion,” the agency said.
US intelligence agencies have said they believe Russia was behind the “serious” cyber compromise revealed in December.
President Trump had previously suggested China might have been behind the hack, although other members of his administration had pointed the finger at Moscow.
In a joint statement, the intelligence bodies say they currently believe fewer than 10 US government agencies saw their data compromised, although other organisations outside of government were also affected.
They say work is still going on to understand the scope of the incident, which appears to have been aimed at gathering intelligence and which they say is “ongoing” a month after details first emerged.
The update on the investigation came in a statement from a task force called the Cyber Unified Coordination Group which was set up to deal with the incident. It comprises intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the FBI and NSA.
The group said it was still working to understand the scope of what had taken place.
Soon after the incident was revealed, President Trump raised the possibility that China might be responsible, but members of his own administration including the secretary of state and attorney general pointed the finger at Moscow.
The latest statement shows the assessment of US intelligence agencies is that Russia was behind it, although it does not go so far as accusing the Russian state itself, saying only that the actor was “likely Russian in origin”. Moscow has denied playing any part.
President-elect Joe Biden has previously said it was important to take “meaningful steps” to hold those responsible to account. It is not yet clear, though, what that might involve. While some US politicians suggested the breach might even be compared to an “act of war”, most cyber-experts disputed this and the US intelligence community has now played down suggestions that it could have had destructive impact.
“At this time, we believe this was, and continues to be, an intelligence-gathering effort,” the latest statement says. This is significant since it suggests no evidence has been found that this was preparatory activity for a more destructive cyber-attack which might switch off systems. This may limit the US response since espionage operations do not breach the cyber norms the US itself promotes (largely because it too carries out such intelligence-gathering operations against other nations
The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine is being rolled out to hundreds of GP-run vaccination sites in England.
As part of the biggest vaccination programme in NHS history, the aim is to offer jabs to most care home residents by the end of January.
By mid-February, the target is to vaccinate 13 million people in the top four priority groups.
But one surgery visited by the health secretary to promote the initiative said its delivery had been delayed.
More than 700 local vaccination sites will administer the jabs.
Another 180 GP-led sites, 100 new hospital sites and a pilot scheme involving local pharmacies will open this week.
The Oxford jab was initially given to patients in selected hospitals, including first recipient 82-year-old Brian Pinker.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was now being supplied to GP practices across the country as he visited the Bloomsbury Surgery in central London.
Mr Hancock said he was “delighted” care homes residents would begin receiving their first Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs this week.
“This will ensure the most vulnerable are protected and will save tens of thousands of lives,” he said.
But GP Ammara Hughes, a partner at Bloomsbury Surgery, told broadcasters its first delivery of the jab had been pushed back 24 hours to Thursday.
She said: “It’s just more frustrating than a concern because we’ve got the capacity to vaccinate. And if we had a regular supply – we do have the capacity to vaccinate three to four thousand patients a week.”
Mr Hancock said the “rate-limiting” factor in efforts to get people vaccinated was supply from the manufacturers.
The surgery said it was continuing to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and had so far received three deliveries of that jab.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said vaccination centres and GP surgeries needed better information about deliveries of the vaccine and how much to expect to arrive.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tweeted that the scenes at the surgery were like something from political comedy The Thick of It, but added: “Sadly it’s no laughing matter.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was the first to be approved by the UK’s medicines regulator in early December, followed by the British-made Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine four weeks later.
Because it does not need to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it can be transported and stored more easily, making it simpler to vaccinate housebound people and those in care homes.
Around half a million doses of both vaccines are ready to be used this week, with millions more in the pipeline in the coming weeks.
Next week, seven major vaccination hubs across England are set to begin operating, including the Excel Centre in London and Millennium Point in Birmingham.
This, we agree, is a giant stride towards ensuring a safe nation amid the pandemic.
Citizens have been left stranded and frustrated outside offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as staff of the commission embarked on industrial action.
“Consequent upon the just concluded congress of the above-mentioned association that took place on January 6, 2020, the unit executive directs all members of grade level 12 and below in the head office and state offices to report to their respective duty posts tomorrow January 7, 2020, and do nothing,” the notice stated.
The notice which was signed by Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC branch, Asekokhai Michael, and its Secretary, Odia Victor also stated that “all members at the local government offices and special centres are advised to stay away from their various centres as task force and implementation committees would be on parade to ensure total compliance to the directive.”
In December, the Nigerian Communications Commission directed all telecommunication firms to disconnect the SIM cards of all persons who have not integrated their National Identity Numbers with their phone lines by the end of January.
More than 95 million Nigerians are yet to integrate their National Identification Numbers and has brought about huge crowds to gather at the offices of NIMC nationwide in breach of the COVID-19 protocol.
In this file photo taken on December 3, 2020 US President Donald Trump speaks before awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to retired football coach Lou Holtz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
A Baghdad court has issued a warrant for the arrest of US President Donald Trump as part of its investigation into the killing of a top Iraqi paramilitary commander.
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of Iraq’s largely pro-Iran Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary network, died in the same US drone strike that killed storied Iranian general Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad airport on January 3 last year.
The strike on their motorcade was ordered by Trump, who later crowed that it had taken out “two (men) for the price of one”.
The UN special rapporteur for extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard, has described the twin killings as “arbitrary” and “illegal”.
Iran already issued a warrant for Trump’s arrest in June, and asked Interpol to relay it as a so-called red notice to other police forces around the world, a request that has so far gone unmet.
The court for east Baghdad issued the warrant for Trump’s arrest under Article 406 of the penal code, which provides for the death penalty in all cases of premeditated murder, the judiciary said.
The court said the preliminary inquiry had been completed but “investigations are continuing in order to unmask the other culprits in this crime, be they Iraqis or foreigners.”
In the run-up to Sunday’s anniversary of the twin killings, pro-Iran factions stepped up their rhetoric against Washington and Iraqi officials deemed to have colluded with it.
The Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, on Wednesday mourned the death of his younger brother, Dr Haroun Hamzat.
Hamzat, who made the announcement through his Instagram page (drobafemihamzat), however called on the public to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19 pandemic.
He implored everyone to obey all the rules of COVlD-19.
“There is urgent need for us as people to be conscious of the volatility of COVID-19.
“We should not only do this for ourselves, but for everyone we come in contact with.
“Stay safe, use your masks, sanitise or wash your hands regularly and maintain social distancing,” the deputy governor said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deceased died on Tuesday at the age of 37 years.
Until his death, he was a medical doctor in one of the public health centres in Orile Agege Local Council Development Area (LCDA), in Lagos.
The deputy governor prayed for the repose of the soul of his younger brother, and that Almighty Allah should forgive him his sins, and grant him eternal tranquility and Al Jannah Firdaus.
Atiku hopes Nigerians will soon have access to the vaccines to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has received a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The 2019 presidential candidate received the first of two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, according to a report by TheCable.
“The importance of the #COVID19 vaccine in mitigating the effect of the coronavirus cannot be overstated, particularly in Africa and Nigeria,” his spokesperson Paul Ibe said.
He said Atiku, 74, looks forward to when Nigerians, especially medical professionals in the frontline and the most vulnerable, will be vaccinated.
Since COVID-19 was first detected in China in December 2019, it has infected over 87 million people and killed nearly 1.9 million across the world.
Vaccines were deployed in a few countries late in 2020 after a couple of them were confirmed to be over 90% effective against the virus.
Nigeria hopes to start a mass vaccination campaign at the end of January, with the delivery of 42 million doses of the vaccine expected by the end of the year.
That figure is expected to inoculate less than half of the nation’s estimated population of 200 million.
Since Nigeria’s first case was detected last February, over 92,000 cases have been recorded, with a feared second wave of infections kicking off in December.
Following a formal affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, President Trump said the decision “represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history.”
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement.
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.
“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said while repeating false claims about the election that incited a mob to storm the Capitol. – CNN
Congress on early Thursday morning formally affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory after a mob supporting President Trump violently broke into the Capitol the day before.
The extraordinary attack on the symbolic epicenter of the U.S.’s democracy left the building in tatters, at least one rioter dead and lawmakers in both parties shell-shocked by the unprecedented threat to their safety in a building previously thought to be virtually impenetrable.
Shortly before 4 a.m., after lawmakers formally tabulated each state’s Electoral College votes, Vice President Pence announced before a joint session of Congress that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had won 306 votes over Trump’s 232.
The images of chanting Trump supporters smashing windows, brawling with Capitol Police and marching unimpeded through the Rotunda quickly ricocheted around the globe, stunning Washington, the nation and the entire free world while leading to accusations from lawmakers in both parties that it was the president himself who had incited the riot.
“There is no question that the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the third-ranking House Republican. “He lit the flame.”
The vote to certify the president-elect’s victory in the Electoral College, the final step before his inauguration on Jan. 20, is largely a matter of course, but party leaders in both chambers decided that delaying it, even briefly, would deliver the message that the mob had won.
Instead, they raced to finalize their votes accepting the state tallies, hoping it would send a very different signal to the stunned country: The nation’s democratic institutions remain strong even under direct attack.
“We must and we will show to the country – and indeed to the world – that we will not be diverted from our duty, that we will respect our responsibility to the Constitution and to the American people,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said while presiding over the House floor.
“The United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said as he reconvened the upper chamber Wednesday night.
The day’s proceedings were extraordinary even before the arrival of the violent mob, as more than 100 of Trump’s closest allies in both chambers had vowed to challenge the election results in as many as six battleground states where they claimed, without evidence, that fraud had been rampant.
The House and Senate were less than an hour into separately debating the first GOP objection to a state that Biden won – Arizona – when the rioters breached nearby office buildings and eventually the Capitol itself.
Both chambers went into recess for more than 5 1/2 hours as law enforcement struggled to contain the chaos unfolding inside the Capitol. The mobs breached the Senate chamber, broke the glass of one of the center doors leading into the House chamber and vandalized Pelosi’s office nearby.
Terror and chaos reigned at the Capitol as lawmakers, staff and reporters in the House and Senate chambers were told to hide under their seats, given gas masks and eventually evacuated.
One of the rioters who broke into the Senate chamber sat in the chair on the dais reserved for the presiding officer while yelling in support of Trump. Another swung from the base of the visitor’s gallery, while a third was seen with his feet propped up on a desk in Pelosi’s office.
In the House chamber, police officers drew guns and improvised by placing heavy furniture against the central door to prevent the mob from making its way inside, where lawmakers, staff and journalists were scrambling for cover.
D.C. police confirmed that one unnamed woman was shot inside the Capitol and later died. Three other people – a woman and two men – died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.
Numerous Capitol Police officers were also injured.
The rioters were mostly maskless despite the raging COVID-19 pandemic and some carried Confederate flags.
Both the House and Senate ultimately voted late Wednesday to reject the challenge to Arizona’s electoral votes on a bipartisan basis. That outcome was expected, but the day’s shocking events acted to diminish the number of Republican objectors.
Still, 121 Republicans in the House and six in the Senate voted to challenge Arizona’s results. Hours later, the House and Senate beat back a challenge to Pennsylvania’s result by similar margins. The Senate rejected it by 92-7, while the House voted 282-138.
When Wednesday began, at least 14 GOP senators and more than 100 House Republicans had been set to challenge the results under pressure from Trump.
An objection must be made by at least one lawmaker in each chamber in order to trigger two hours of debate and a vote. GOP senators and House members had planned to also launch objections to Georgia, but ultimately backed down after the day’s chaos.
“When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider and I cannot now, in good conscience, object,” Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who lost reelection in a runoff the night before, announced on the Senate floor.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) was even more terse, saying the day’s events “changed things drastically.”
“Whatever point you made before that should suffice,” Braun said. “Let’s get this ugly day behind us.”
The Capitol Police said earlier in the week that it would have extra officers on duty in anticipation of mass protests over the Electoral College count. But those reinforcements weren’t enough as the mobs breached the barricades, pushed past officers in riot gear and entered the building through broken windows.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said the full District of Columbia National Guard, representing 1,100 troops, would be deployed to help assist with containing the riots. The governors of Virginia and Maryland also sent state troopers and members of the National Guard ahead of a 6 p.m. curfew established by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
In the days leading up to Wednesday’s Electoral College votes, Trump had bashed the election process as inherently corrupt, framing Biden’s win as a fraud and encouraging his supporters to come to Washington to protest. Shortly before the Capitol was stormed on Wednesday, he had addressed thousands of those supporters outside the White House, vowing never to concede defeat and urging the crowd to march on the Capitol.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” he told the cheering crowd. “You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
After the smoke – literal and figurative – cleared, members of both parties cast blame on Trump for egging on rioters to protest at the Capitol and continuing to falsely claim that he lost the election due to voter fraud.
“It was a tragic day and he was part of it,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) told reporters when asked if Trump bore responsibility. “I think it put many people on notice that we have to be more careful and more thoughtful in how we deal with each other and how we safeguard the democracy and the freedoms we have.”
As the violence unfolded, Democrats, Republicans and former White House officials alike pleaded with Trump to defuse the mayhem by urging his supporters to leave the Capitol premises.
Trump later tweeted a video telling his supporters to “go home” but added: “We love you, you’re very special.” He also amplified the fallacious claims that the election was stolen.
The backlash was swift.
Numerous Democrats called for another round of impeachment proceedings or for invocation of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment to immediately remove Trump from office, even though he is set to leave the White House in two weeks, when Biden is inaugurated.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said she will draw up articles of impeachment against Trump, who was impeached by the Democratic-controlled House in December 2019 over pressuring the Ukrainian government to open an investigation into Biden.
Lawmakers further called for prosecuting the rioters and investigating why the Capitol Police failed to control the situation.
“The breach today at the U.S. Capitol raises grave security concerns,” House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said in a statement, adding that she intends to have her panel work with House and Senate leadership of both parties “to address these concerns and review the response in coming days.”
But most of all, Wednesday’s chaos marked a dark day for American democracy that lawmakers warned will set back the nation’s reputation before the rest of the world and take work to repair.
The Capitol itself bore physical damage hours after law enforcement cleared the rioters out of the building. Wednesday marked the first time that a violent group breached the Capitol since the British in August 1814, according to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.
The door leading to the Capitol Rotunda from the East Front steps where the mob broke a security barrier bore glass cracks and what appeared to be bullet marks. A glass door adorning the entrance of the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber was also cracked.
And in the Rotunda itself, rioters’ litter still remained along the walls, including a Trump flag, protein bars and water bottles. The floors in the Rotunda and surrounding the House and Senate chambers were covered in dirt with shoe marks.
“This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away,” said Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.). “But we are a resilient, forward-looking and optimistic people. And we will begin the hard work of repairing this nation tonight.”
Four people died on Wednesday, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill that resulted in dozens of demonstrators being arrested, police announced.
Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee called the rioting by pro-Trump demonstrators “shameful” during a news conference alongside Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
Demonstrators stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, forcing both chambers to evacuate as they prepared to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win.
The situation escalated quickly, with officers scrambling to prevent swarms of people from entering the Capitol building before eventually being overrun by scores of people entering the complex.
One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the rioting. Police said three other people – a woman and two men – died after apparently suffering “separate medical emergencies” near the Capitol grounds.
Authorities have not released additional information on the woman who was shot by the Capitol Police officer. The woman was transported to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead, Contee said.
Contee said at least 14 officers sustained injuries during the rioting, with one officer “pulled into the crowd and assaulted,” resulting in “serious injuries” that required hospitalization. Another officer was also hospitalized.
Police also recovered two pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee.
Officers from D.C. police and Capitol Police successfully cleared the Capitol grounds so Congress could resume its count of the electoral results, which resumed around 8 p.m.
Members of the D.C. National Guard had been called in earlier Wednesday as authorities attempted to gain control of the situation and secure the Capitol building.
In response to the civil unrest on Capitol Hill, Bowser issued a curfew for the District beginning at 6 p.m. on Wednesday. She also extended an emergency declaration in the city until Jan. 21, allowing the city to access additional resources to quell any further civil disturbances.
Police began “securing the perimeter around the Capitol Building” around 7:15 p.m., Conte said, issuing verbal warnings to many of the hundreds that remained in the area after the curfew had gone into effect.
As of 9:30 p.m., police had made 52 arrests, including four for carrying pistols without a license and one for possession of a prohibited weapon. Twenty six of the 52 arrests were made on Capitol grounds, Conte said.
Conte reminded the public, “if you are not engaged in essential activities, please stay off the streets.”
Nigeria recorded 1,664 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections to 94,369. the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has said.
The NCDC made this known via its verified website on Wednesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the daily increase was a new record and considerably higher than Tuesday’s 1,354 confirmed cases.
It said that 22 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded the new infections with Lagos having the highest number of cases with 642.
The FCT, the centre said recorded 407 new cases while Plateau recorded 160 new cases.
Also, it said Kaduna State recorded 83 new infections while Rivers State recorded 62.
Others state are Adamawa-47, Nasarawa-38, Abia-29, Edo-28, Anambra-27, Niger-24, Ogun-24, Imo-15, Oyo-14, Kano-12, Osun-12, Borno-nine, Delta-seven, Enugu-7, Bauchi-5, Ekiti-5, Sokoto-5 and Jigawa-2.
The centre also said that Nigeria recorded 77,299 recoveries and 1,318 fatalities.
The NCDC said that there are now 14,990 active COVID-19 cases.
The centre, however said that in the last 24 hours, 903 recoveries were recorded.
It noted that the discharges included 388 community recoveries in Lagos State, 261 in Kaduna State, 87 in Plateau State and 20 in Imo managed in line with its guidelines.
The NCDC also said that Nigeria recorded five deaths in the past 24 hours.
The agency has said that a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre, activated at Level III, is coordinating response activities nationwide.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that from Feb. 27, 2020 till date, only 980,046 samples of suspected infected people had been tested in a population of more than 200 million people.
The country also approved 70 public, seven corporate and 32 commercial laboratories across the country with varying testing capacities.
Donald Trump has been suspended from Twitter and Facebook after tweeting to supporters who attacked the US Capitol.
In a social media message to protesters he said “I love you” before telling them to go home. He also repeated false claims about election fraud.
Twitter said it required the removal of three tweets for “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy”.
The company said the president’s account would remain locked for good if the tweets were not removed.
It went on to say that “Future violations of the Twitter Rules… will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account”.
It means Donald Trump’s days on Twitter could be numbered. The president is not known for paying much attention to Twitter’s community guidelines.
Meanwhile, Facebook banned Mr Trump for 24 hours. YouTube also removed the video.
Facebook said: “We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
His supporters stormed the seat of US government and clashed with police, leading to the death of one woman.
The violence brought to a halt congressional debate over Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.
In the House and Senate chambers, Republicans were challenging the certification of November’s election results.”We will never give up, we will never concede”, Trump tells supporters
Before the violence, President Trump had told supporters on the National Mall in Washington that the election had been stolen.
Hours later, as the violence mounted inside and outside the US Capitol, he appeared on video and repeated the false claim.
He told protesters “I love you” and described the people who stormed the Capitol complex as “patriots”.
YouTube said it removed the video because it “violated policies on spreading election fraud”.
Twitter initially didn’t take down the video, instead removing the ability to retweet, like and comment on it and another tweet.
However, it later removed them, and suspended the outgoing president
Report has confirmed one person dead and three others injured in an accident that happened earlier today in the Cocoa House building, Dugbe, Ibadan.
According to the report, one of the building’s faulty elevators crashed while some technicians were working on it, killing one person instantly.
About four technicians were working to restore it for the use of staff members of Odua Investment Company Limited and other Cocoa House tenants.
Two of the other persons broke their arms while another person broke his legs during the accident. They have been taken to hospital for immediate medical attention.
Victor Ayetoro,Head, Corporate Affairs Odua Investment company Limited in a reaction said, “At 11am this morning, the lift installation team from our contractor handling the lift and who were working on dismantling the old lift in readiness for a new lift instalment, while working on the lift suffered a mechanical failure. The said failure resulted in the lift car dropping and crashing into the basement pit.
Unfortunately, one of the technicians in the team did not survive the incident.
Three other technicians suffered minor injuries and have been taken to the hospital for check up/ treatment.”
He further added that, “the head office of the company has been informed and their representatives have arrived to take charge of the situation while the Police have also been informed.”
Nigeria expects to get its first batch of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of this month as part of its plan to inoculate 40% of the population this year and a further 30% next year, the head of the country’s primary healthcare agency, Faisal Shuaib, has said.
The first batch would contain 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, obtained through the global vaccine-sharing scheme known as Covax.
Nigeria will first inoculate frontline health workers, first responders, national leaders, people vulnerable to coronavirus and the elderly, Mr Shuaib said.
The country hopes to get 42 million vaccines to cover one-fifth of its population through the scheme, Mr Shuaib added.
The World Health Organization set up the Covax scheme to help poorer countries obtain Covid-19 vaccines amid widespread concerns that wealthier nations would snap them up.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said last week that the country expected to get vaccines through Covax scheme by the second quarter of 2021, following the initial payment of 283 million rand ($19.3; £14.1m).
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize subsequently said that the government was also in talks with private pharmaceutical companies to obtain vaccines by next month.
South Africa’s government has been under intense pressure to roll out an inoculation programme following the discovery of a faster spreading variant of the virus.
South Africa has recorded more than 1.1 million Covid-19 cases, the highest in Africa.
Nigeria has so far recorded close to 100,000 cases. More than 1,200 new cases were recorded on Monday, its highest ever.
Nigeria has a population of abut 200 million, the biggest in Africa.
Reports emerging from major news outlets in United States have confirmed that President Donald Trump didn’t give the order for the deployment of National Guard to assist local law enforcement in enforcing law and order following invasion of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters.
Large crowd of Trump supporters had earlier stormed US Congress and White house in a latest bid to protest against the election that saw Biden certified as winner, gaining access and occupying the building.
President Trump by virtue of his office is the Commander of the US Armed Forces and the power to order for deployment of troops rest solely on him.
In a report made available by New York Media, defense and administration officials had confirmed it was Vice President Mike Pence who gave the order to deploy the D.C. National Guard.
The development has raised a lot of questions as to why Donald Trump who is till the commander in chief, did not approve the order for the deployment of the troops.
There are insinuations that Trump was not involved in the discussion to deploy the troops, leading to speculations that he may have been stepped aside as reports said he was unwilling to give the order to restore law and order.
Twitter and Facebook suspended Donald Trump on Wednesday over posts accused of inflaming violence in the US Capitol, as social media scrambled to respond to mayhem by supporters buying into his baseless attacks on the integrity of the election.
The unprecedented sanctions came after the president took to social media to repeat his numerous false claims about fraud and other impropriety in the election he lost to Joe Biden.
“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” said Facebook vice president of integrity Guy Rosen.
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
Facebook barred Trump from posting at the social network or its Instagram service for 24 hours, saying his messages were promoting violence.
Trump’s falsehoods, ranging from specific allegations to broad conspiracy theories, also prompted Facebook to change a label added to posts aiming to undermine the election results.
The new label reads: “Joe Biden has been elected president with results that were certified by all 50 states. The US has laws, procedures, and established institutions to ensure the peaceful transfer of power after an election.”
An activist group calling itself a mock Facebook oversight board said sanctions against Trump at the social network were long overdue.
“This is too little, too late,” the group said in a statement.
“Donald Trump has breached Facebook’s own terms and conditions multiple times. His account is not just a threat to democracy but to human life.”
The crackdown came after Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attack that led to one woman being shot and killed by police, interrupting congressional debate over Biden’s election victory.
The assault came after the president had urged supporters to march on the seat of government during a speech outside the White House in which he alleged baselessly that the election had been stolen from him.
He later released a video on social media in which he repeated the false claim — even telling the mob “I love you.”
YouTube removed the video in line with its policy barring claims challenging election results.
The video is seen below;
Twitter said Trump’s messages were violations of the platform’s rules on civic integrity and that any future violations “will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”
The messaging platform said Trump’s account would be locked for 12 hours and that if the offending tweets were not removed, “the account will remain locked.”
Facebook said it would search for and remove content which praised the storming of the Capitol or encouraged the violence.
The platform said it would seek to take down additional calls for protests, including peaceful ones, if they violated a curfew imposed by the city of Washington, or any attempts to “re-stage” the storming of Congress.
“The violent protests in the Capitol today are a disgrace,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
“We prohibit incitement and calls for violence on our platform. We are actively reviewing and removing any content that breaks these rules.”
Facebook maintained that it was in contact with law enforcement officials and continued to enforce bans on QAnon conspiracy group, militarized social movements, and hate groups.
A #StormTheCapitol hashtag was blocked at Facebook and Instagram, according to the internet titan.
Author Eric Jerome Dickey, whose novels of romance, mystery and adventure were best-selling page-turners over more than 20 years, has died aged 59.
The US writer wrote 30 novels about breathless relationships and thrilling adventures involving young African American characters.
They included Friends & Lovers, Milk In My Coffee, Cheaters and Finding Gideon.
He also wrote a series of Marvel comics about a love story between Storm from the X-Men and the Black Panther.
“His work has become a cultural touchstone over the course of his multi-decade writing career, earning him millions of dedicated readers around the world,” his publicist Becky Odell told USA Today in a statement.
Writer Roxane Gay was among those paying tribute, describing him as “a great storyteller”
RIP Eric Jerome.
