ONE WORD

A graphic published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on June 19, 2020, showing the nation’s COVID-19 statistics. Nigeria on Friday recorded 667 new cases of the novel coronavirus pushing its total infections past the 19,000 mark, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). According to the health agency, Lagos reported the highest number of new cases with 281, Abia with 48, Oyo with 45, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with 38 cases. Other states with new cases include Ogun (37), Enugu (31), Ondo (23), Plateau (21), Edo (19), Delta (18), Rivers (18), Bayelsa (17), Akwa Ibom (17), Kaduna (14), Kano (12), Bauchi (9), Gombe (4), Osun (3), Benue (3), Kwara (3), Ekiti (2), and Borno (1). The total number of cases in the country now stands at 19,147 while successfully discharged patients are 6,581; the number of deaths related to the virus stands at 487. The novel coronavirus has now killed at least 456,630 people worldwide since the outbreak began in China la...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has granted the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his Deputy, Philip Shaibu, a waiver to contest for elective office on its platform. This comes days after the governor dumped the All Progressives Congress and consequently, picked up his PDP membership card at the party’s secretariat in Benin City, the state capital today. Addressing party officials, the governor said he automatically becomes the PDP leader in the state following his defection. Obaseki also reiterated his commitment to providing what he described as quality leadership, adding that he is ready to lead the party to victory in the September 19 governorship election. After displaying his membership card, he said: “I automatically become the leader of this party. I want to assure all of you (that) I am prepared to provide leadership. “I am prepared to provide leadership that will lead this party to victory. I am prepared to provide leadership that will not only put PDP into office...

President Muhammadu Buhari with the National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, at the State House in Abuja on June 18, 2020. Inset: the service chiefs. The President is not pleased with the way insecurity is being handled in many parts of the country and is not mincing words about it. This indication came after President Muhammadu Buhari met with the Service Chiefs on Thursday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, the nation’s capital. He warned the heads of the nation’s security agencies that excuses would no longer be tolerated and asked them to do more to secure the nation and its people. While the service chiefs are trying their best to tackle the issue of insecurity in the country, President Buhari insisted that their best is not good enough. The National Security Adviser (NSA), Retired Major General Babagana Monguno, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting. He added that the President has ordered him to meet with the state governors in the North-Wes...

A graphic published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on June 18, 2020, showing the nation’s COVID-19 statistics. Nigeria on Thursday recorded its highest single-day COVID-19  infections with 745 new cases.  This was revealed in a late-night tweet by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). According to the NCDC, Lagos State had the highest number of infections for the day with 280 cases and is followed by Oyo and Ebonyi states with 103 and 72 cases respectively. The health agency said other states with infections for the day include:  FCT (60); Imo (46); Edo (34); Delta (33); Rivers (25); Kaduna (23); Ondo (16); Katsina (12); Kano (10); Bauchi (8); and Borno (7). Others states with fresh infections are  Kwara (5); Gombe (4); Sokoto (2); Enugu (2); Yobe (1) Osun (1); Nasarawa (1). A further breakdown of the figures showed that the West African country now has 18,480 cases of the virus with 6307 persons discharged. Of the number of recorded cases, 475 pe...

A file photo of APC spokesman, Lanre Issa-Onilu. The National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday affirmed Senator Abiola Ajimobi as the Party’s Acting National Chairman. This comes on the heels of an Appeal Court’s ruling affirming the suspension of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as National Chairman and in line with Section 14.2 (iii) of the Party’s Constitution. Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu the National Publicity Secretary of the APC who disclosed this development also stated that due to Sen. Ajimobi’s unavoidable absence, the NWC unanimously appointed the Party’s National Vice Chairman (South-South), Prince Hilliard Etta to act on Sen. Ajimobi’s behalf. According to the APC spokesman, this action was backed by the Party’s constitution which empowers the NWC to appoint one of its members in an acting capacity and stipulates that the acting National chairman must be from the zone of the National Chairman. Also, committees for the Party’s Edo State Governo...

A file photo of Lagos state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The Lagos State Government has stopped the reopening of worship centers initially scheduled for Friday, June 19 (mosques) and Sunday, June 21 (churches). Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced the decision at a press briefing on Tuesday. According to him, the development became necessary as a result of the rising cases of COVID-19 in the state. On Monday, Nigeria recorded 573 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 16,658. Of the new infections, Lagos reported the highest figures with 216 new cases, bringing the total number of cases in the state 7,319. Consequently, the state has remained the epicentre of infections in the country, closely followed by the FCT with 1,264 and Kano state with 1,158. To curb further spread of the virus, the Federal Government had in March, imposed a lockdown on the three majorly affected states at the time (Lagos, Ogun State and the FCT). Subsequently, other ...

A graphic published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control on June 14, 2020, displaying the country’s COVID-19 statistics. Nigeria’s COVID-19 cases surpassed 16,000 on Sunday as Gombe State had the highest number of infections – 73 – for the day. This was revealed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in a late-night tweet on its official handle where it added that the country had 403 new cases of the virus. According to the agency, Lagos State trails Gombe in reported cases for the day with 68 new infections, followed by Kano State where 46 more people got the virus. Other states with new COVID-19 cases are: Edo (36); FCT (35); Nasarawa (31);  Kaduna (17);  Oyo (16); Abia (15) and Delta (13). A further breakdown of the latest figures from the Federal Government agency showed that they were new cases of the disease in the following states: Borno (13); Plateau (8); Niger (7); Rivers (7); Enugu (6); Ogun (6); Kebbi (3); Ondo (1); Anambra (1) and Imo (1). ). NCDC ✔ ...