Abia State Governor tests positive to COVID-19

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia state has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Commissioner for Information in Abia, John Okiyi Kalu, disclosed this in a statement on Monday, June 8, 2020.

Ikpeazu had gone into isolation following the death of his Commissioner for Environment, Solomon Ogunji, on May 24.

Ogunji was suspected to have died of hypertension. However, tests for COVID-19 on his remains returned positive.

The governor had advised Abia Exco members who had contact with Ogunji, before his death, to also observe self-isolation until they had been tested for the virus.

The state's deputy governor, Ude Chukwu, will stand-in for Ikpeazu until he's declared fit to return to work.

In March, Ikpeazu had said COVID-19 will not come anywhere near his state because Abia is the only state mentioned in the Bible.

"Abia is the only state that is mentioned in the Bible. We have a promise from God that none of these diseases...none will touch God's people. And I hold onto God's promise. We saw Ebola, it did not get to us. We saw monkey pox, it didn't get to us.

Even this one (COVID-19), will also pass us by in Jesus name. Amen." Abia has reported 83 COVID-19 cases and 7 recoveries as of June 7, 2020.

COVID-19 : Discharged cases exceed 1000

With the release of 31 more patients from Lagos isolation centres, over 1000 coronavirus patients who have fully recovered from the virus have now been discharged in the state.

The State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu announced this in a statement. He said the total number of patients that have been successfully managed at the state's isolation centres and discharged is now 1,025.

“Good people of Lagos, today, 31 fully recovered ‪#COVID19 Lagos‬ patients, 25 males and 6 females, were discharged from the Onikan, Gbagada, Agidingbi, Lekki and Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) isolation facilities to reunite with the society.

The patients, 6 from Onikan, 4 from Gbagada, 2 from Agidingbi, 6 from Lekki and 13 from LUTH isolation centres were discharged having fully recovered and tested negative to ‪#COVID19‬.

With this, the number of ‪#COVID19‬ confirmed cases that have been successfully managed and discharged in Lagos has risen to 1025,” he said.

Lagos is the epicentre of coronavirus in Nigeria and currently, the state has a total of 5,729 out of 12,233 confirmed cases in the country.

Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Health, Prof Akin Abayomi has said that the state may run out of bed spaces in less that one month if it continues to record a high number of cases daily.

Graphic: Lady empties a pot of hot water on her sleeping husband in Bayelsa

A man, identified as Oyinkro Miebode, got more than he bargained for on June 3, 2020, as his wife, Maureen, emptied a pot of hot water on him while sleeping at their home along INEC Road, Kpansia, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

According to reports, trouble started on the evening of the previous day, when he slapped her for raining insults on him because he came too early to meet her somewhere in town.

They had agreed to meet at 8pm, but because he closed early from work and got a lift from his boss, he got to their agreed meeting place by 7pm. .

While hanging around till it is 8pm, he saw Maureen walking past him, so he ran to her to notify her of his presence, but instead, she got angry that he came earlier than they agreed. According to him: 

“In shock, I then asked why she was angry that I came early. That was when she started accusing me of monitoring her. She insulted me till we got home.

I thought that we could settle the matter at home but it was hell. So out of anger, I gave her two warning slaps and instructed her to go to the bedroom and sleep.

At that point, a friend called me to come to his place for a private birthday party, and unfortunately, I came back home at about 1 am. So I was sleeping on the sofa in my living room when suddenly she bathed me with hot water.”

The wife fled home immediately but has been calling and asking the family forgiveness, noting that it was the devil that pushed her.

Photo credit - Instablog 

Inconsequential actions have long term consequences

"One of my good friends called me sometime last year amidst tears and asked me to pray for her younger brother. She had just been told that he was involved in a car accident. I tried to comfort her as best as I could, and I assured her that I would pray for him. After the call ended, I started to pray in tongues for him and suddenly, I started getting scared. I used to feel physical pain in my stomach a lot whenever I was afraid or anxious, but that had stopped in over a year… until that day. Somehow, I just knew her brother had passed on. She called me a few hours later to confirm that he had indeed passed on.

Distraught doesn’t adequately capture how she sounded over the phone. She hadn’t fully come to terms with the fact; just as is the case when most people receive bad news. She just kept repeating over and over again how she didn’t understand what her brother was doing in a mortuary after an accident. She expected he’d be taken to the hospital and not a mortuary. My friend couldn’t come to terms with the death of her only brother who was 33-years old. In between reminiscing about his life and expressing her unbelief of the whole situation, she explained to me what had happened.

Her brother lived in the USA and was studying for his PhD in a different state from where his young wife and daughter lived. Because of the close bond he shared with his family, he drove at least 7 hours often to spend time with them. He was driving on the highway – which is usually a narrow road with only 2 lanes and vehicles going in the North and South direction. He was in his own lane while a guy, who was driving a dodger and trying to overtake other vehicles, moved to his lane and collided with him in a ghastly accident that claimed his life. The errant driver survived.

I spent the next few days with my friend and she showed me the picture of the accident; it was unreal. The damage to her brother’s car was devastating and looked highly horrifying – like you see in action-movies."

Written by @firecracker_toyeen

Teen cleans up after a protest, gets scholarship and car

An 18-year-old high school senior, Antonio Gwynn Jr. is now the proud owner of a 2004 Mustang after Matt Block decided to gift him the car as a reward for cleaning up after protests in Buffalo, New York.

Antonio saw on the news that Bailey Avenue was covered in glass and garbage, and he knew people needed to use that street to get to work in the morning, CNN reports. He then set out early in the morning at 2 a.m and spent around 10 hours cleaning up after the protest. 

“The car he sent me a picture of was the same exact car that my mom first got me. It’s the same colour, same everything,” Antonio told WKBW.

Bob Briceland, CEO of an insurance agency will be covering Gwynn’s auto insurance for one year and he has been offered a full scholarship to study business in Medaille College. 

“I literally stopped, pulled over, and started crying. So did my great aunt. My little cousin did also… I always wanted to be someone to help everyone with their car problems. This is a great opportunity I have right in front of me,” said Antonio. 

“I appreciate everything everyone is doing for me,” Antonio added.

NOUN conducts virtual matriculation for students

THE National Open University of Nigeria said that it had concluded arrangements to conduct an online matriculation for its new students by Saturday, June 13.

The university noted that its students should download an application, Zoom, that would enable them to participate in the matriculation from any location.

The NOUN Director of Media and Publicity, Mr Ibrahim Sheme, added that the online matriculation was as a result of developments arising from the COVID-19 pandemic in the country which called for minimum gathering of persons as possible. Sheme said, 

“During the matriculation, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abdalla Adamu, will deliver his address, which will be followed by administering of oath of the 19th matriculation on the students by the Registrar, Mr. Felix Idoka, both from remote locations without the students being physically present.

The virtual event will be viewed live through the Zoom application. It is therefore advisable for students to download the application to enable them to participate from home or any other location. The application password would be communicated to them.

The university has therefore withdrawn its earlier announcement that students could collect academic gowns from their various study centres for the matriculation ceremony; such directive was issued in error.”

NOUN noted that it would be impossible to conduct collection of gowns due to the restriction of movements.

“The centre directors have been told not to open any study centre or allow a gathering of students, until the ban on all tertiary institutions is lifted by the Federal Government,” the university said.

2022 : Manny Pacquiao to run for Philippines Presidency

Boxing legend, Manny Pacquiao, will contest 2020 Presidency in the Philippines, his former promoter Bob Arum says.

The 41-year-old boxer was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in late 2009 and currently serves as a senator, having been elected in 2016.

According to thesun.co.uk, he received more than 16 million votes and was introduced as the people’s champion with his name read out in the same style as before a big fight.

When Pacquiao’s current term in office comes to an end, the boxer is tipped to go for the very top job.

The election to decide the current President Rodrigo Duterte’s successor is scheduled for May 9, 2022.

Arum said in a conversation with the President of the World Boxing Council, Mauricio Sulaiman, 

“The first president I think we’ll get as a fighter is little Manny Pacquiao, who told me, once again. I did a Zoom telephone call with him, ‘Bob, I’m gonna run in 2022 and, when I win, I want you there at my inauguration.’”

Manny Pacquiao despite his involvement in politics is yet to hang up his boxing gloves and has no plans to retire as yet.

El Rufai - Lockdown, curfew in force

The Kaduna State Government has said the lockdown in the state is still in force.

In a statement issued by Governor Nasir el-Rufai ‘s Special Adviser on Media and Communication,  Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, the government said that the order would remain in force until Tuesday, June 9. The statement added, 

“Governor Nasir El-Rufai will address the state on Tuesday and will specify the next steps for the state; which sectors will be permitted to open and the safety guidelines that each sector is expected to comply with before reopening. No market, school or place of worship will reopen until the government makes the required proclamation.”

The government was reacting to a report that it had reviewed the state quarantine law.

Adekeye said El-Rufai would address the state on Tuesday during which the next step in the COVID-19 fight would be revealed.

Reps summon PTF over COVID-19 funds

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 is appearing before the House of Representatives to account for the funds allocated and donated to the fight against the pandemic. A joint committee of the House is handling the “engagement”.

Chairman of the PTF and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha; and the Minister of Health, Prof Osagie Ehanire, were represented by permanent secretaries.

Director-General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu; and the National Coordinator of the PTF, Dr Sani Aliyu, are in attendance.

Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts and leader of the joint committees, Mr Wole Oke, said the engagement was to monitor the expenditure by the PTF‎ and clear the air on “insinuations” about COVID-19 funds.

‎The Permanent Secretary, Office of the SGF, Olusegun Adekunle, said a total sum of N22,163,130,411‎ had so far been released to the PTF’s operations account‎.

“Out of this, what has been utilised is N164,929,475 to cater for the management of the affairs of returnees (evacuees) from different parts of the world,” he said.

He also said the balance remains in the account, opened‎ by the Accountant-General of the Federation with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

2020 UTME : JAMB meet over cut-off marks

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board and Heads of Tertiary Institutions are expected to meet June 16 over cut-off marks and other guidelines for the 2020/2021 Admission exercise.

The exam body announced the 2020 Policy Meeting of tertiary institutions in its weekly bulletin obtained by our correspondent on Monday.

According to the bulletin, the policy meeting, which is expected to hold online, will be chaired by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu. The bulletin read in part, 

“Part of the protocols put in place by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 requires that no gathering of persons exceeding the prescribed number.

Compliance with this directive has become imperative as no fewer than 4,000 Heads of Tertiary Institutions comprising Degree, Diploma, NCE, and NID-awarding institutions and other stakeholders would normally be expected to congregate at a location but because of extant protocols, they would now be expected to participate in the virtual meeting.

The meeting will discuss critical issues bordering on the advances made in the educational sector in the last one year in addition to setting the tone for the 2020/2021 Admission exercise.

The meeting will also chart policy directions for the nation’s tertiary institutions, set admission guidelines, and make a holistic review of application statistics, performance as well as evaluate the 2019 admissions exercise.

The meeting, in addition to other deliberations, would take a stand on concessional and acceptable minimum admissions standards to be applied in all admissions to be undertaken by all tertiary institutions in Nigeria."