DONALD OTITO

The SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, addressing reporters at a PTF briefing in Abuja.   President Muhammadu Buhari has donated sixty-seven million naira (N67,000,000) worth of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to aid the fight against COVID-19 in Sao Tome and Principe.  The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, disclosed this on Monday during a briefing by the PTF in Abuja. This donation follows a request by the government of Sao Tome, seeking aid to help the country effectively manage the coronavirus pandemic which is ravaging the world. More details to follow. Channels Television

By Emma Amaize FORMER Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, has said he did not receive any contract from NDDC as alleged by Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio. Ibori, in a statement by his Media Assistant, Mr Tony Eluemunor, urged Akpabio to “calm down and focus on the task at hand.”. Eluemunor stated: “On hearing the news of the alleged Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) contract awarded to him this morning, from the former Governor of Akwa-Ibom state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, as published in a newspaper and other online publications, he did not want to join in the ‘dancing in the market square’ going on in the NDDC right now.” “He has decided to make this clarification for the records because friends and associates inundated him with phone calls this morning. So, he is stating categorically that he never solicited for, or was awarded, or indeed executed, any contract with NDDC or any government agency, at any time, for that matter. READ A...

A British woman was jailed for three and a half years Monday after tearfully admitting she stabbed her husband to death during a fight on the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi. Samantha Jones killed John William Jones in 2018 in their house during a row in the early hours of the morning, which her lawyer said came after years of domestic abuse. The 52-year-old admitted “culpable homicide”, which is roughly equivalent to manslaughter, and was handed the jail term and ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 ringgit ($2,300). The British woman had initially been charged with murder, which carries a mandatory death sentence in Malaysia, but prosecutors agreed to the lesser charge. During a hearing in the northern city of Alor Setar, Jones pleaded guilty and then wept as a prosecutor showed the High Court the murder weapon and photos of the crime scene. In mitigation, her lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said Jones had long suffered from physical and emotional abuse meted out by her husband, who was an a...

Eight Russians have been arrested and charged with human trafficking in the country’s first surrogacy probe, and a court on Monday was to consider extending the arrests. Surrogacy is legal in Russia and has been a lucrative business for many years. However, a criminal probe was made possible due to “ambiguities” in legislation, defence lawyer Igor Trunov told AFP, adding it was the first such case in Russia’s history. As part of the probe, eight people have been arrested including several doctors, the head of a surrogacy firm, a courier, and a surrogate mother. The surrogate mother is being held under house arrest while other suspects are in pre-trial detention. On Monday, seven of the eight suspects were in a Moscow court as defence appealed their arrests, Trunov said. He said he did not expect a successful outcome. The probe was launched after one of the babies born to a surrogate mother was found dead in a flat outside Moscow in January. Three other babies found in the same flat wer...

A file photo of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai.   The Kaduna State Government has fixed August 10 for the reopening of schools for Senior Secondary School 3 students. Governor Nasir El-Rufai gave the approval to enable them to write their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) slated for August 17, 2020. This is in compliance with the announcement of the Federal Ministry of Education, which advised students to resume from August 4, 2020. In a statement issued on Monday, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Education, Shehu Mohammed directed all secondary school principals to make arrangements to receive SS3 boarding students on August 9 day students on August 10 respectively. READ ALSO :  Bristow Pilots, Engineers Shut Down Operations “The guidelines include reduced hours of work/revision to 4 hours per shift, strict social distancing both in the classes, laboratories, libraries and hostels, consistency of temperature monitoring and handling any suspect...

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has been named the Football Writers’ Association’s (FWA) Footballer of the Year. The Reds won the Premier League title with seven games to spare, ending a 30-year wait for their 19th top-flight championship. Playing arguably the best football of his career, England midfielder Henderson was influential in leading the side in a dominant campaign. The FWA revealed Henderson, who has been out with a knee injury since early July, secured more than a quarter of the votes. ALSO READ:  Sane hints Havertz’s move to Chelsea is a done deal Team-mates Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane were in contention, along with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford. Liverpool pair Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold also had votes cast in their favour. Henderson said: “I’d like to say how appreciative I am of the support of those who voted for me and the Football Writers’ Association in general. “You only have to look at the past winners of...

Magu By Johnbosco Agbakwuru ABUJA — SECRETARY to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Olanipekun Olukoyede and the Directors of the Commission on Thursday appeared before the Presidential panel investigating corruption allegations against the acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu. Magu is facing 21 corruption allegation from the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Vanguard reliably gathered that the Justice Ayo Salami-led panel summoned the top management officers from the commission to give insight on some of the allegations against the embattled Chairman. Meanwhile, the absence of the embattled Chairman is creating a bit of confusion within the commission. It was gathered that two top management officers are in contention over who oversees activities of the commission since Magu’s ordeal. The anti-corruption boss appears before the panel from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, FCID, where he was held since Monday. Inv...