Report: Emir of Daura’s palace sealed over COVID-19

The palace of Umar Farouk, emir of Daura in Katsina state, has been sealed off after a case of COVID-19 was recorded, according to Daily Trust. 

The newspaper quoted Mustapha Inuwa, secretary to the state government, as saying the closure was normal routine in places where a positive case has been recorded. 

According to him, samples had been taken from the palace which has been placed under lock. 

Gambo On his part, Isa, police spokesperson in the state, also said: “Daura is under lockdown and so it shall be in every nook and cranny in the town without exception to anybody’s house, the police are just ensuring the lockdown order of the state government.”

Bello Masari, governor of Katsina, had in April ordered a lockdown in Daura local government area of the state over three fresh cases of COVID-19.

Masari’s directive had come after Aliyu Yakubu, a medical doctor based in Katsina state die due from the complications of COVID-19.

The emir had also suspended the wedding of his daughter over the outbreak of the virus.

President Muhammadu Buhari is from Daura.

TheCable

Nigeria Latest News

It’s Insulting For United States To Give Conditions On How Nigeria Should Spend Abacha Loot —Sagay

Chairman of the  Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), has reacted to the return of $300m looted by the late dictator, Sani Abacha.

Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, confirmed the return of the looted funds on Monday in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Dr Umar Gwandu.

Speaking in an interview with SaharaReporters on Monday, the professor of law said it undermines the sovereignty of Nigeria for the United States to give conditions on the use of the money by the Nigerian Government. 

The United States Government had told Nigeria to be ready to “replace” the $300m General Sani Abacha loot it returned to the country if the fund was misused. 

According to the U.S. Justice Department, the money must be used for the agreed public projects highlighted in the agreement signed with it before the fund was returned to Nigeria.

Sagay further explained that although it was wrong to give conditions, the US resorted to that based on previous experience with returned loot which was stolen upon getting to Nigeria.

Reacting specifically as to whether it was wrong for the US to give conditions on how the money should be spent, Sagay said, “In principle, it is wrong for them (US) to do that, it undermines our sovereignty and I will almost say it’s an insult of some sort given the fact that it is our money, which was taken to their jurisdiction illegally.

“What they (US) are doing is based on experience. We have had a lot of loot; Abacha loot released in the past which was simply relooted by those in power. That happened a lot and the whole world knows that that is why they have been giving conditions. 

“You find that the social investment project was as a result of this type of situation, where the World Bank was supervising the project because that was the condition, on which whatever money that was released was released.

“In the past, those funds were ‘relooted’ by those in power. It’s a pity because those in power now are the very antithesis of those who were in power then but the international community is not aware of that and it is not prepared to countenance or appreciate that fact.

“I think as long as both parties agree and that is what the government wanted to use it for in the first place or it was not imposed on them, it’s okay.

“Whatever is agreed to, usually it would be a good thing, usually, it will be for the benefit of the most vulnerable at times, maybe infrastructural project. Whatever it is, let the Nigerian government truly apply it to it and then the country will be better for it.”

SaharaReporters

Nigeria Records 245 New Cases Of Coronavirus As Death Toll Hit 93

245 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Nigeria on Monday.

According to Nigeria Center for Disease Control NCDC, out of the 245 new cases of COVID-19, 76-Lagos, 37-Katsina, 32-Jigawa, 23-Kano, 19-FCT, 18-Borno, 10-Edo, 9-Bauchi, 6-Adamawa, 5-Oyo, 5-Ogun, 1-Ekiti, 1-Osun, 1-Benue, 1-Niger, 1-Zamfara

Nigeria now has 2802 confirmed cases of COVID19. 417 patients have been discharged from the various Isolation centers while 93 deaths have been recorded.

EKITI STATE RECORDS 1 NEW COVID-19 POSITIVE CASE

EKITI STATE RECORDS 1 NEW COVID-19 POSITIVE CASE

Ekiti State has recorded 1 new COVID-19 positive case, as confirmed by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The new positive case is a female, who entered Ekiti State during the lockdown, from Katsina State. Her purpose was to visit her husband, a military officer, who resides in Oye-Ekiti. When he noticed symptoms of the COVID-19 infection, he alerted the Taskforce, and samples were taken from her for testing. The test result returned positive to COVID-19.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Ekiti State to twelve (12), of which nine (9) are active, two (2) discharged, and one (1) death.

Subscribers to pay more from June 1 as GOtv scraps Value and Plus packages

Multichoice, the owner of the DStv and GOtv channels, has announced that from June 1, 2020, subscribers of GOtv Value and GOtv Plus will no longer have access to them as the channels will be phased out.

In a statement on its twitter handle on Monday, May 4, GOtv announced that those on GOtv Value, who pay N1,250 per month as subscription will no longer be able to get the station but will be migrated to GOtv Jinja which subscription is N1,600.

Also, subscribers on GOtv Plus who used to pay N1,900 as subscription will no longer get the package from June 1 as they will be migrated to GOtv Jolli which subscription is N2,400.

According to the statement by GOtv on its twitter handle, “Effective 1 June, GOtv Value and GOtv Plus packages will be phased out and customers will be migrated to the brand new GOtv JINJA and GOtv JOLLI packaged exclusively for Naija.”

Many low-income Nigerians are regular subscribers of these two packages due to the fact that the money paid for these packages as subscriptions are affordable to them and some of the channels are enjoyable.

Only last week Friday, its sister body, DStv, announced that subscribers on DStv Family package will no longer be able to watch the package which subscription goes for N4,000 as they will be migrated to DStv Confam which goes for N4,500.

Nigeria Tribune

Be Ready To “Replace” Returned $300m Abacha Loot If Misused, United States Tells Nigerian Government

The United States Government has told Nigeria to be ready to “replace” the $300m General Sani Abacha loot it returned to the country if the fund was misused.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, the money must be used for the agreed public projects highlighted in the agreement signed with it before the fund was returned to Nigeria.

The United States and the British dependency of Jersey agreed with the Nigerian Government in February to return the $300m Abacha loot, according to Reuters.

The U.S. Justice Department outlined the so-called "claw back" provision in a response to a query from a powerful American senator questioning the prudence of returning the cash.

"Should any of the parties — including the United States —conclude that any of the returned funds had been used for an ineligible expenditure, a "claw-back" provision would then obligate the FRN (Nigeria) to replace fully any such improperly diverted monies," the letter said.

It did not specify how and to whom the money would be "replaced".

The provision is notable as Nigeria continues efforts to repatriate money allegedly stolen during Abacha's brutal regime from 1993 until his death in 1998.

Transparency International estimates that he stole as much as $5bn of public funds during that time.

Sahara Reporters