100 year old Army veteran has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus

Captain Sir Tom Moore has been admitted to hospital with coronavirus, his daughter has said.

The 100-year-old, who raised almost £33m for the NHS, was taken to Bedford Hospital after requiring help with his breathing, Hannah Ingram-Moore said on Twitter.

She said he had been treated for pneumonia over the past few weeks and last week tested positive for Covid-19.

Mrs Ingram-Moore said her father was not in intensive care.

A spokeswoman for the family said Capt Sir Tom had not yet received the Covid-19 vaccine due to the medication he was on for pneumonia.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “You’ve inspired the whole nation, and I know we are all wishing you a full recovery.”

The Army veteran won the nation’s hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, before his 100th birthday during the first national lockdown.

He was knighted by the Queen in July.

Capt Sir Tom Moore
image captionCapt Sir Tom won the nation’s hearts with his fundraising efforts

In Mrs Ingram-Moore’s tweet, she said her father had been at home with the family until Sunday when he “needed additional help with breathing”.

She said the medical care he had received in the past few weeks had been “remarkable”.

“We know that the wonderful staff at Bedford Hospital will do all they can to make him comfortable and hopefully [he will] return home as soon as possible,” she said.

The Queen and Capt Tom Moore
image captionCapt Sir Tom was knighted by the Queen in July

There has been an outpouring of well wishes for the centenarian on social media.

BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker posted: “Come on Captain Tom”, while actor and singer Michael Ball sent “love and prayers”.

Capt Sir Tom, who was given the honorary title of colonel on his 100th birthday, had initially set out to raise £1,000 for NHS charities by repeatedly walking an 82ft (25m) loop of his garden.

But he eventually raised £32,794,701 from more than 1.5m supporters.

Man Caught With Bullets In Oghara, Delta State.

A man has been caught with bullets in Delta State. HGS Media Plus reports.

The unidentified man was caught this morning at Oghara express, opposite cattle market area in Delta State.

The man who was on a bike had a road accident, when residents rushed out to help, they discovered bullets falling out from the man’s pocket.

When the man was asked how he got procession of the bullets, he claimed one Sariki sent him to purchase it.

The man has however been handed over to the police for  further investigation.

New Service Chiefs arrive in Maiduguri today

The new service chiefs appointment by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have arrived Maiduguri, the Borno State capital to meet with critical stakeholders to brainstorm on how to tackle insurgency in the theatre of war.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Major General Leo Irabor led the delegation to arrive at the headquarters of Air Task Force of Operation Lafiya Dole in Maiduguri on Sunday afternoon at about 1330 hours.

They include the Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. General Leo Irabor; Chief of Army Staff, Maj. General Ibrahim Attahiru; Chief of Naval Staff, AVM Awwal Gambo and the Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Isiaka Amao.

A top security source said the visit is expected to brainstorming on how to re-strategise approach that will ensure lasting peace in the region.

The service chiefs were appointed this week to replace the ousted service chiefs, whose sack had long been called for.

Russia issues arrest threat as supporters of govt critic, Navalny plan new nationwide rallies

Concerned authorities in Russia on Saturday issued an arrest threat to supporters of Kremlin critic, Alexey Navalny who are preparing for a fresh round of anti-government protests on Sunday.

Reports say Navalny’s supporters are planning a nationwide protest despite a police crackdown and strong warnings against participating in the demonstrations.

Spokeswoman for the Russian interior ministry, Irina Volk in a statement issued on Saturday said participants found in violation of epidemiological regulations by participating in rallies could face criminal charges.

“The Russian interior ministry units and other law enforcement will use all necessary measures to ensure public order at sites of mass events. Moreover, we warn that any violent actions against officers or refusal to obey their lawful orders will be prevented.

“Individuals who commit such illegal actions will be detained and held accountable according to the law,” Volk added.

This came days after the police in Russia arrested no fewer than 3,000 supporters of Navalny, and also violently broke up rallies across Russia as tens of thousands of protesters marched through the country.

Ex-CAR militia commander appears before ICC, for alleged war crimes, refuses to speak

Former Central African Republic militia commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time on Friday to answer for alleged crimes against humanity.

However, the alleged leader of Séléka, a largely Muslim rebel coalition who was handed over to the ICC on Sunday after his arrest in the Bria region of CAR, told the court that he’ll not make any comments for the time being.

“I will be silent for now and express myself when the time comes,” said Mr Kani, appearing by video link from the ICC’s detention centre because of coronavirus restrictions.

“I am not yet very fully informed of my rights. I am aware that as a suspect I am presumed innocent,” Kani added.

The militia commander allegedly committed the crimes in 2013 in the capital, Bangui, following the overthrow of President François Bozizé.

Thousands of people died in the ensuing violence that followed between the rebels and Christian militias in the country.

China execute former bank executive for corruption

A former head of a Chinese state-owned asset management company, China Huarong Asset Management Company, Lai Xiaomin, has been executed after a court sentenced him to death on charges of corruption, bribe taking and bigamy.

Xiaomin who was sentenced to death by a court in Tianjin, east of Beijing, on January 5, was executed on Friday after President Xi Jinping signed the warrant for his execution.

The Second Intermediate People’s Court had ruled that the death sentence of the 54-year-old former bank executive was justified because he took “especially enormous” bribes to make investments, offer construction contracts, help with promotions and provide other favors.

According to prosecutors, Xiaomin had “asked for or collected 1.8 billion yuan ($260 million) over a decade” while he was the head of the company set up in the 1990s to buy non-performing loans from government-owned banks.

Under Xiaomin who was the Chairman of the company, it expanded into banking, insurance, real estate finance and other fields.

Court documents said one bribe exceeded 600 million yuan ($93 million). He was also convicted of embezzling more than 25 million yuan ($4 million) and starting a second family while still married to his first wife.

The accused “endangered national financial security and financial stability and the death penalty “was his own responsibility, and he deserved it,” the judge had said during the judgment.

Xiaomin was placed under investigation by the ruling Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog in 2018 and expelled from the party later the same year.

He was also accused by the anti-corruption agency of squandering public money, illegally organizing banquets, engaging in sexual dealings with multiple women and taking bribes while investigators seized hundreds of millions of yuan (tens of millions of dollars) in cash from his properties.

Key Phrase: Former Chinese bank executive executed for corruption

Palestinians will receive 5,000 vaccine doses from Israel

Israel says it is transferring 5,000 doses of Covid vaccine to immunise frontline Palestinian health workers.

Israel has one of the most advanced vaccination programmes in the world but Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza have yet to see one.

UN experts say Israel has a responsibility for vaccinations there.

Israel says that is not part of agreed protocols and it has not received any requests from the Palestinians. This is its first such transfer.

Israel has recorded some 640,000 Covid cases since the pandemic began, and just over 4,700 deaths, Johns Hopkins University research shows. There have been almost 160,000 cases in the West Bank and Gaza, with 1,833 deaths, the research shows.

Israel’s special deal with vaccine supplier Pfizer – Israel is providing vital medical data in return for a quick rollout – has helped it to become the country that has inoculated more people per head of population than any other.

Some 1.7 million people, almost 20% of the population, have already received both doses. More than three million people have received the first. However, the country remains under lockdown.

The office of Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz confirmed on Sunday that Israel would make the transfer to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians have not yet commented.

Neither the West Bank, whose limited self-rule is run by the Palestinian Authority, nor Gaza, controlled by militant Islamist movement Hamas, has started vaccination programmes.

Palestinian health officials say deals are being negotiated for vaccine supplies but it is unclear when they will start.

The territories also hope to benefit from the World Health Organization-backed Covax scheme, to supply vaccines to poorer states and nations, but again timings are unknown.

A few thousand Russian-made vaccines have arrived but is unclear who they have gone to.

About 2.7 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, and another 1.8 million in Gaza.

Israel points to the Oslo accords, agreed in 1993 and 1995, which set out how parts of the West Bank and Gaza would be governed under an interim framework until a permanent peace settlement can be reached.

It says these give the Palestinian Authority oversight of public health under the principles of self-determination.

The Palestinians say those accords also say Israel should co-operate in combating epidemics and contagious diseases.

Valentine Hilton 77 is dead

The Animals guitarist Hilton Valentine, who created one of the most famous riffs in pop music in the 1960s, has died at the age of 77.

The British band’s version of blues standard The House of The Rising Sun topped the UK and US charts in 1964.

The Animals’ record label ABKCO Music described Valentine as a “pioneering guitar player influencing the sound of rock and roll for decades to come”.

North Shields-born Valentine died on Friday, ABKCO said on Twitter.

Valentine co-founded the Animals in Newcastle in 1963 alongside singer Eric Burdon, bassist Chas Chandler, organist Alan Price and drummer John Steel.

The group also scored six other UK top 10 hits including Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood and We Gotta Get Out of This Place.

Valentine left The Animals for a solo career after the original line-up split in 1966, but he went on take part in several reunions and toured with Burdon in 2007.

Based in Connecticut in recent years, he also released music with his band Skiffledog.

Burdon paid tribute to Valentine on Instagram, writing: “The opening opus of Rising Sun will never sound the same!… You didn’t just play it, you lived it! Heartbroken by the sudden news of Hilton’s passing.

“We had great times together, Geordie lad. From the North Shields to the entire world…Rock In Peace.”

The Australian city of Perth has begun a snap five-day lockdown after a security guard working at a quarantine hotel tested positive for coronavirus.

Western Australia – the state of which Perth is the capital – had not had a case of locally acquired coronavirus for 10 months.

The lockdown began at 18:00 (10:00 GMT) and runs until Friday night.

Schools, restaurants, bars, cinemas and gyms have been ordered to close.

Only essential travel is allowed and masks must be worn.

People in the city of two million – along with people living in the nearby Peel and South West regions – must stay at home, except for essential work, healthcare, food shopping or exercise, said Western Australia state Premier Mark McGowan.

A scheduled return of schools on Monday has also been delayed by a week.

“I know for many Western Australians this is going to come as a shock,” Mr McGowan said at a news conference. “We cannot forget how quickly this virus can spread, nor the devastation it can cause.

“Our model is to deal with it very, very quickly and harshly… so that we can bring it under control and not have community spread of the virus as you have seen in other countries around the world,” he added.

Mr McGowan said the guard may have the UK variant of the virus: “We are told the guard was working on the same floor as a positive UK variant case.” The guard and his family have been placed into quarantine at a state-run facility, he added.

Leaders of other states and territories have also been contacted and advised not to allow people to travel into the state.

Australia has recorded nearly 29,000 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began, for a populations of about 25 million – far fewer than many other countries.

In recent months in particular, the nation has taken swift and aggressive actions to contain outbreaks at their source, and it currently has a travel ban in place preventing residents from overseas travel.

Earlier this month, Queensland’s capital, Brisbane, completed a three-day lockdown over the detection of a single case.

Earlier this week, Australia also suspended a travel bubble with New Zealand after its first Covid case in months was confirmed to be a more contagious variant.

It has now reopened the travel bubble with New Zealand. Travellers to Australia will be screened before and after flights for the next 10 days, but will no longer be required to enter quarantine.

Until the Perth case, Australia had not had any locally acquired infection for the past 14 days. Its only infections had been in returned overseas travellers in hotel quarantine.

On Thursday, Australia was ranked eighth in a list of nations which had responded best to the virus. New Zealand and Vietnam topped the list from the Lowy Institute think tank.

President Buhari’s son-in-law gets #covid19 vaccine in Dubai.

President Buhari’s son-in-law gets covid19 vaccine in Dubai.
President Buhari’s son-in-law , Ahmed Indimi got his covid 19 vaccine in Dubai. He revealed this via his Instagram page with a picture of him getting vaccinated.
He wrote,

“Vaccinated!!”

President Buhari’s son-in-law, Ahmed Indimi is married to one of President Buhari’s daughters, Zahra Buhari.

Fresh Protest across Russia

Thousands of Russians have been taking part in unauthorised protests to demand the release of the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

More than 1,000 people have been detained so far, local media say.

In Moscow police have closed metro stations and are restricting movement in the city centre. About 140 people have been detained there.

Mr Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent.

He is accused of not complying with a suspended sentence.

The opposition figure had only just arrived from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from the near-fatal attack.

Russian authorities say he was supposed to report to police regularly because of a suspended sentence for embezzlement.

Mr Navalny has denounced his detention as “blatantly illegal”, saying the authorities knew he was being treated in Berlin for the Novichok poisoning, which happened in Russia last August.

protest in Moscow
image captionPolice have restricted movement in central Moscow

Meanwhile Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied reports he is the owner of a vast palace on the Black Sea, as alleged by Mr Navalny in a video that has gone viral in Russia and has been watched more than 100m times.

In Moscow the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford says protesters played cat-and-mouse with police, getting up close to officers before retreating to safety. Police snatch squads pulled some protesters through the lines of riot shields. Footage showed a stream of people being escorted on to buses by riot police.

Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia Navalnaya is among those detained, Mr Navalny’s team says.

Police say the protests are illegal, while Russian authorities have warned that the demonstrations could spread the coronavirus.

A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters she had attended despite having a panic attack the night before over the possible repercussions she could face for taking part.

“I understand that I live in a totally lawless state. In a police state, with no independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently,” she said.

In St Petersburg, Mr Putin’s home city, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: “Down with the Tsar.”

St Petersburg rally
image captionCrowds in St Petersburg chanted: “Down with the Tsar”

Rallies in support of Mr Navalny have already taken place in eastern Russia. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, at least 2,000 people marched through the city chanting “Freedom” and “Putin is a thief”.

Read why these two men were flogged 77 times

Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh province publicly flogged two gay men 77 times each on Thursday after a vigilante mob raided their apartment in November, allegedly caught them having sex, and handed them over to the police. The whipping—recognized as torture under international law—was punishment under the province’s Sharia (Islamic law) regulations, which forbid same-sex conduct.

The floggings are part of a longstanding pattern of targeted abuse by Acehnese authorities against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.

In 2012, then-Banda Aceh deputy mayor Illiza Saaduddin announced a “special team” to make the public more aware of the “threat of LGBT,” posting an image of herself on Instagram holding a handgun and vowing to flush gays out of Aceh. In October 2015, special Sharia police arrested two women, ages 18 and 19, on suspicion of being lesbians for embracing in public, and detained them for three nights before sending them to religious “rehab.” An episode nearly identical to this week’s flogging happened in 2017 – including vigilantism, police involvement, prosecution under grossly discriminatory Sharia regulations, and public flogging.

The abuse also is part of a five-year anti-LGBT campaign driven by many of Indonesia’s national and local leaders with harmful rhetoric and repeated failure to punish abusers.

Aceh is the only one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces that can legally adopt bylaws derived from Sharia (though such provisions are spreading elsewhere in the country). Over the past decade, Aceh’s parliament has adopted Sharia-inspired ordinances that criminalize everything from non-hijab-wearing women, to drinking alcohol, to gambling, to extramarital sex. The province’s 2014 Criminal Code bars both male and female same-sex behavior.

And while the spectacle of public torture in Aceh is horrific, authorities across the country continue to lead or participate in arbitrary raids and arrests in private spaces. Increasingly, authorities are using a discriminatory pornography law as a weapon to target LGBT people. The crackdown has contributed to a major public health crisis: HIV rates among men who have sex with men were already spiking, and the attacks of the last five years have stoked fear and inhibited vital HIV prevention work.

The Indonesian government has made commitments in principle to protect LGBT people. But it seems President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s slogan of “unity in diversity” does not genuinely extend to protecting everyone – including the two men mercilessly flogged today.

European Union ‘made a mistake’ over vaccines.

The European Union recognised it “made a mistake” in triggering an emergency provision in the Brexit deal to control Covid vaccine exports, the Cabinet Office minister has said.

Michael Gove said he was “confident” of the UK’s vaccine supply and said its programme would continue as planned.

He said the UK was “on track” to deliver 15 million jabs by 15 February.

It comes after the EU reversed a decision which could have seen checks at the Irish border amid a vaccine row.

Mr Gove said he had spoken with European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič and both had agreed “we need a reset” and to put the people of Northern Ireland first.

He said Prime Minister Boris Johnson had spoken to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and it was made clear that “supply would not be interrupted so we can proceed with our plans”.

On Friday, the EU said it would trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol – which allows the EU and UK to choose to suspend any aspects they consider are causing “economic, societal or environmental difficulties” – before later reversing the decision following condemnation from London, Dublin and Belfast.

The Irish Republic’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said in a tweet the protocol was a “hard-won compromise” and was “not something to be tampered with lightly”.

The move came amid a deepening dispute over delays to the production and distribution of Covid vaccines across the EU.

One EU diplomat told BBC Europe editor Katya Adler they were not consulted on the move and would have said it was a “terrible idea”, while another described the EU’s vaccination programme as a “car crash in slow motion”.

After speaking with Mr Gove, Mr Šefčovič tweeted their shared priority was ensuring the protocol worked for the people of Northern Ireland, “protecting gains of the peace process and avoiding disruption to everyday lives”.

Mr Coveney said he had also spoken with the pair, as well as UK Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis. He said the protocol was there to “protect relationships, facilitate trade, avoid borders”.

France is set to impose new Covid-19 border restrictions

France is imposing new Covid-19 border restrictions from Sunday, but has again resisted a new nationwide lockdown.

All but essential travel from outside the EU will be banned and testing requirements on travellers from within the EU will be tightened.

PM Jean Castex said France’s night curfew would be more tightly enforced and large shopping centres would close.

But the measures were seen as mild and favouring the economy. Some doctors fear they will not curb infections.

Prime Minister, Jean Castex, in Colmar, France – 23 Jan 2021

The new border restrictions will affect the UK, now no longer in the EU, but its transport minister clarified on Twitter that the change would not impact hauliers transporting goods to or from the UK.

Princess Shyngle marries her ‘best friend’ who she’s crushed on since 8th grade.

Princess Shyngle has said she’s now married and her name has officially changed to Mrs Bala-Gaye.
She shared footage of her man proposing to her and other clips showing them displaying massive PDA. She explained in the caption that they are already married and she’s officially a wife.

She wrote: 

My crush since 8th grade even though you didn’t use to look my way back then the only man I ever hit on numerous times but I had no luck instead you choose to be my friend for over 10 years , little did either of us knew we were gonna end up together. Our real and genuine friendship brought us together and made our relationship and bound stronger than ever. I’m still taking it all in and I know all this would not have been possible without Allah. I’m blessed to be married to my childhood crush, my forever crush, my best friend, gossip partner and love of my life.. Mrs Bala-Gaye 4life. I’m officially a wife.

Only months ago, the Gambian actress broke off her engagement to her Senegalese boo, Frederic Badji.

How I Conspired With Fulani Herdsman To Abduct, Kill My Two Nephews—UniOsun Student

Muyideen, who was paraded alongside Memudu by the Osun State Police Command on Friday, said the victims were children of his elder brother.

A 21-year-old undergraduate of the Osun State University, Usman Muyideen, has narrated how he kidnapped and killed two underage children with the help of a Fulani herdsman identified as Memudu.

Muyideen, who was paraded alongside Memudu by the Osun State Police Command on Friday, said the victims were children of his elder brother.

The 200 level student of Public Administration accused the herdsman of talking him into abducting them.

SaharaReporters gathered that the two children, Thompson Onibokun (13) and Samson Onibokun (12,) were kidnapped on January 26, 2021, on a football field around Iludun area, Osogbo.

“The herdsman talked me into kidnapping them. He is my friend. We have lived together since childhood,” Muyideen said.

“When we got to the field where Thompson and Samson were, I told them to follow me and they did because I am the younger brother of their daddy. We didn’t know that they would die.

“The police tracked the phones we used in contacting the parents and we were arrested.”

Also confessing to the crime, Memudu said, “I am a Fulani herdsman. I abducted two children with the help of Muyideen, who is their family member. We went to the football field where the children played and abducted them.

“We took them on a commercial bike to a forest where my cattle do feed around Coker area, Osogbo. I know the terrain very well. We were in the forest for four days, giving the children bread and soft drink.

“We contacted the parents and demanded N25 million ransom. I wanted to use the ransom to start a business. We gave them six days to provide the ransom but, unfortunately, the two children died on the fourth day after the rope we used to tie them to a tree strangulated them.

“When those children died, we did not contact the parents again. We left the corpses there and they discovered the bodies four days after.”

The state Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, said the two children’s bodies had been recovered and deposited at University Teaching Hospital morgue, Osogbo for autopsy.


 

The body of a dead mother was discovered in a freezer after 10 years

Police in Japan have arrested a woman after the body of her dead mother was discovered in a freezer in her flat.

Scene

Yumi Yoshino, 48, said that she found her mother dead and hid the body 10 years ago because she “didn’t want to move out” of the Tokyo home they shared, local media reported, citing unnamed police sources.

There were no visible wounds on the frozen body, police said.

The authorities could not determine the time and cause of the woman’s death.

The body was reportedly discovered by a cleaner after Ms Yoshino had been forced to leave the apartment due to missing rent payments.

The body had been bent to the fit in the freezer, police said.

Ms Yoshino was arrested in a hotel in the city of Chiba, near Tokyo, on Friday.

EFCC burst Yahoo-Yahoo academy in Abuja, arrests 10 students.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Friday, January 29, arrested 10 suspects over computer-related fraud known as ‘Yahoo-Yahoo’

A statement released by the antigraft agency states that the suspects were arrested at their Academy in Bwari axis of Abuja where they were said to be learning the trade of cyber trickery.

The suspects aged between 20 and 30 years, were identified as Sixtus Jude, Moses Samuel, Isalan Johnny, Dapet Nimshak, Samuel Ogboche, Victor Samuel, Victor Asuquo, Ibrahim Yunusa, Yahaya Usman and Chijoke Ikwuoha.

They were arrested with different incriminating items such as mobile phones and computers.The promoter of the Academy is however on the run. Investigations showed that the sponsor recruits and train young individuals who show interest in internet fraud.

The sponsor gets his percentage of their earnings based on an agreement between him and the recruits. He also serves as a conduit for laundering the money gotten from internet fraud by some of the suspects.
The suspects will be prosecuted when investigation is completed.

Shell Nigeria will pay compensation for oil spills

A Dutch appeals court has ruled that the Nigerian branch of oil giant Shell is responsible for damage caused by leaks in the Niger Delta.

The court ordered Shell Nigeria to pay compensation to Nigerian farmers, while the subsidiary and its Anglo-Dutch parent company were told to install equipment to prevent future damage.

A group of farmers launched the case in 2008, alleging widespread pollution.

Shell says the leaks were the result of “sabotage”.

In a statement on Friday, Royal Dutch Shell said it was “disappointed” with the verdict.

The ruling can be appealed against.

The judgment could have implications beyond Nigeria, in terms of corporate responsibility and the duty of care multinationals have to the people in the places where they operate, reports the BBC’s Anna Holligan from The Hague.

While the oil spills in this case happened from 2004 to 2007, pollution from leaking pipelines continues to be a major issue in the Niger Delta.

The court said Shell had not proven “beyond reasonable doubt” that saboteurs were responsible for the leaks affecting the villages of Goi and Oruma, rather than poor maintenance.

“This makes Shell Nigeria responsible for the damage caused by the leaks” in these areas, it said. It added that the amount of compensation would be “determined at a later stage”.

The court found that a leak in Ikot Ada Udo village was a result of sabotage, but said it needed more time to resolve the case.

The four farmers who launched the case – Barizaa Dooh, Elder Friday Alfred Akpan, Chief Fidelis A Oguru and Alali Efanga – said the leaks from underground oil pipelines had cost them their livelihoods by contaminating land and waterways. Mr Efanga and Mr Dooh have died since the case was first filed in 2008 so their sons pursued the case instead.

“I’m very happy – the common man in Nigeria now has hope,” Princewill Efanga told the BBC.

James Oguru, son of Chief Oguru, said “justice had prevailed” but urged Shell to “do the necessary” so they could start farming again.

The farmers were backed by environmental group Friends of the Earth.

“Tears of joy here. After 13 years, we’ve won,” the group’s Dutch branch tweeted following the ruling.

This is the first time individual farmers who have had their sources of livelihood taken away by the environmental destruction in the Niger Delta hope to get justice.

It is being received with excitement among environmental activists, as it may open a floodgate of more litigation against Shell and other corporations involved in oil exploration in the region.

Kentebbe Ebiarido, who represents some of the farmers, said people in the area had been “cheated environmentally and economically” and that no matter how much the multinationals had misbehaved in the past, the communities now have hope.

For many years, Shell has been accused of being responsible for the contamination of the region through leaks from oil exploration – allegations it has always denied.

There have been settlements in the past. But in those instances – like in 2005 when Shell agreed to an $84m (£60m) deal for fishermen in the Bodo community – thousands of residents of the Niger Delta were lumped together. When such settlements eventually got to each of them, it did not amount to much.

But this time, even though no-one knows what the compensation will be, there is little doubt that it will different to before.

Twitter user shares story of how a doctor forgot a knife in his body , during a surgery.

Twitter user shares story of how a doctor forgot a knife in his body , during a surgery.

Twitter user shares a true life story of how a doctor forgot a knife in his body , during a surgery. He wrote;

Many been asking why I have not been active, okay here’s my story, and it’s a THREAD. Read slowly

November last year I got stabbed, most of my followers where aware of this, “it is not dat deep” say the doctor that stitched me up that night. ?

But after the stabbing incident, my health went from 100-10. I fall ill every 2wks from one medication to another no proper improvement, so we had to go see our family doc, who advised us to go for an X-ray after carrying out some checkup on me, low and behold ??. “ A knife “


A knife inside my chest?? How come? Shebi that doctor that stitched me up said the wounds weren’t that deep and I was very lucky? So Where the knife pass enter my body go digest for my chest??. To make things worst family doc said the only way out was an operation. My hrt skip ?

Before my heart resume kicking again, I dun already land for benin “UBTH” to be precise, my parents no even allow me breath digest the operation gist. UBTH doctors too sef no get chill, I just come dem no even give me coke to take relax my mind, dem begin take my blood upTo cut the story short. The operation was carried out,and it was a success. All happened like a dream that Tuesday evening, from rolling me out from the emergency unit to the theatre and sleeping off like a baby only for me to wake up that it was done. Omo! I breath reach ground .

Here’s the knife that was removed. So I ask myself, what would have happened if I had not travel home to see our family doctor? I for dey Lagos dey treat typhoid & fever whereas I was dying slowly. GOD truly works in a miraculous way. ??‍♂️

Omo henceforth I’m now a born again o, Jonah no see pass like this before e repent. My brothers & sisters, God dey heaven and he watches over his own. Abeg Repent. ???

Not to take anything away from the doctors that carried out the operation, they really did their maximum for me, professionals wey sabi work. God bless all UBTH professionals ❤️??