Headline

Weeks After, El-Rufai, Abba Kyari, Atiku’s Son Remain Coronavirus Positive

Published

6 years ago

April 17, 2020

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

While the likes of Oyo and Bauchi states’ governors, Seyi Makinde and Bala Mohammed, among others, have since tested negative to the Coronavirus disease days after being infected, the Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai; the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari and Mohammed Atiku Abubakar, son of former Vice President, are yet to be cured.

The present state of the three high profile officers continue to raise concern of what the outcome of their cases might be.

Atiku’s son, Mohammed, who is 31, tested positive for the virus on March 19 after neighbours reportedly informed the authorities of his condition. This was however, denied by the former Vice President in a press release. He was subsequently moved to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, the treatment centre for most COVID-19 cases.

Atiku Abubakar’s case has remained unchanged many weeks after despite being placed on medication, including antiretroviral and immune-boosting vitamins, Premium Times reported, saying that his case is a “unique condition”, and has puzzled experts at the NCDC.

Quoting an official, the paper reported: “He tested positive again yesterday. We are doing all that is in our power to ensure his recovery, but he can only be released after he has been deemed completely recovered.

“We have been saying that this is a unique condition, but we are confident he will recover soon,” the official added.

Atiku-Abubakar, like El-Rufai, who announced a few days ago that he was still positive, have remained asymptomatic, days after catching the virus. El-Rufai celebrated his 60th birthday just before the scourge gained ground in Nigeria.

In a Premium Times report, a professor, who doubles as a Microbiologist and Molecular Geneticist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Ms Ifeoma Ezeonu feared that the case of the trio, especially Mohammed, is abnormal considering observatory trends, adding that the case was looking like a prolonged carrier and should be closely monitored by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

She said: “Ordinarily, he should have been cleared by now because of his young age and the period he has spent under treatment in isolation. We know that the virus can be transient or chronic, and this case is looking like a classic case of a carrier.

“We just hope it is not an extended carriage as it is a very dangerous situation because it now looks like his system has come into an agreement with the virus,” she said.

“If someone is asymptomatic as he has been, then you expect the immune system to clear the virus on time so the person can be negative again. They should keep treating him there until he is able to clear the virus.”

Like Atiku Abubakar, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, whose case was first made public on March 23, after series of speculations, has remained a case as his recovery has not been announced yet.

Kyari, on discovering his status, violated the Quarantine Act to embark on a private treatment for his Coronavirus infection in Lagos against the directive and recommendation of senior government and health ministry officials.

He was denied the use of the Presidential Intensive Care Unit at Aso Villa, Abuja, and considered the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital isolation unit too low for his standard and liking, and therefore opted to move to Lagos to find personal treatment for the virus. Ever since, his whereabouts have remained a mystery and shrouded in secrecy. Once, however, he was reported as speaking from his isolation base, saying he was still working.

Reacting to Kyari’s rejection of public isolation centres, a senior health ministry official, told SaharaReporters that the purpose of insisting that Kyari was placed in a public isolation centre was for proper monitoring and control of the infection spreading further.

“The purpose of the isolation centres is to get public protocols for monitoring and control of infections

“He can’t engage in private treatment since it is an infectious disease. It is wrong under the law.

“It was the same arrogance that led him to bring the infection from Germany after failing to honour protocols that could have prevented spread,” the ministry official said.

Recall that after returning from trips to Germany and Egypt and being infected with the virus, Kyari went about his daily activities as Chief of Staff to Nigeria’s President and in the process exposed dozens of persons to the virus. At least, three of aides were tested positive for the virus afterwards.

As of April 16, a total of 442 cases have been confirmed in the country with 152 recovery and 13 fatalities, according to NCDC. The disease was first discovered in nigeria on February 27 when an Italian index who just arrived Lagos and visited Ogun State tested positive. The Italian has since been cured and discharged.

The pandemic, which originated from Wuhan Province in China, has led to global lockdown even with many countries with functional health systems closing their borders to international visitors. The United States of America has recorded the largest number of fatalities so far even as the index country, China, has said it is now free of the disease and has released its lockdown.

Headline

Israeli Ambassador Accuses Iran of Spreading Terror, Sponsoring Extremist Activities in Nigeria

Published

2 days ago

March 6, 2026

Eric

Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Michael Freeman, has accused Iran of sponsoring extremist activities in Nigeria and other parts of the world, alleging that Tehran supports groups aimed at destabilising countries while pursuing its hostility against Israel.

Freeman made the remarks on Friday while speaking during an interview on The Morning Show on Arise News.

The envoy claimed that Iran is the only country within the United Nations that openly expresses a desire to destroy another sovereign state, referring to repeated threats against Israel.

According to him, the Iranian government has, over several decades, supported militant groups and terror organisations around the world in pursuit of that objective.

Freeman alleged that Iran has backed groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, adding that Tehran was also behind the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas against Israel.

He further claimed that Iranian activities aimed at spreading instability have been observed across several regions, including Europe, Australia, and parts of Africa.

Speaking specifically about Nigeria, the Israeli ambassador alleged that the Islamic Movement of Nigeria receives backing from the Iranian government.

According to Freeman, statements of support from Iran’s leadership, including posts by Ali Khamenei on social media, have openly indicated such ties.

He said: “The issue here is about Iran. Iran is the only country in the world, in the United Nations, who expressly desires to wipe another country off the face of the earth. Iran has stated its very policy is to destroy Israel. Is to wipe Israel off the map is to make sure they kill every single person and no regime, no country that has an express desire to destroy Israel, and it’s not only an expressed desire.

“We’ve seen over 47 years, they’ve taken all the actions they can in order for that to happen. We’ve seen them sponsor terror organizations. They were behind October the seventh massacre of Hamas. We’ve seen them sponsoring Hezbollah. We’ve seen them acting in Europe. We’ve seen them acting in Australia. We’ve seen them acting in Nigeria.

“We’ve seen these people acting all across the world in order to spread disturbance for them to try and carry out their aim of destroying Israel, and Israel will not allow another country to have nuclear weapons when they’ve expressly stated they want those weapons to destroy Israel”.

“I think that it is well documented. We know that there are certain movements, for example, the Islamic movement of Nigeria is sponsored and is backed by the Iranian regime. This is not me saying this, we’ve seen that documented by the Iranian regime.

The Supreme Leader posted on X his support and his backing there. So that’s very open. And there are other areas as well that Iran is working for, destabilizing, not only Nigeria, but all of West Africa.”

Headline

Why Nigerians Must Reject INEC’s Revised Timetable – ADC

Published

1 week ago

February 28, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), during the week, released a fresh elections timetable, with major amendments to accommodate the just passed and signed Electoral Act 2026 by the National Assembly and President Bola Tinubu respectively.

Following the repeal of the Electoral Act, 2022 and the enactment of the Electoral Act, 2026, which introduced adjustments to statutory timelines governing pre-election and electoral activities, the Commission has reviewed and realigned the Schedule to ensure full compliance with the new legal framework.

Accordingly, the Commission has resolved as follows:

Presidential and National Assembly Elections will now hold on Saturday, 16th January 2027 as against the earlier stated February 20, 2027
Governorship and State Houses of Assembly Elections will now hold on Saturday, 6th February 2027 as against the former date of March 6, 2027

Also in accordance with the approved Schedule of Activities, the electoral bidy noted in the revised timetable that:

Conduct of Party Primaries, including resolution of disputes arising from primaries, will commence on 23rd April 2026 and end on 30th May 2026.

Presidential and National Assembly campaigns will commence on 19th August 2026.

Governorship and State Houses of Assembly campaigns will commence on 9th September 2026.

As provided by law, campaigns shall end 24 hours before Election Day. Political parties are strongly advised to adhere strictly to these timelines. The Commission will enforce compliance with the law.

But in a swift reaction, the opposition coalition, African Democratic Congress (ADC), rejected the revised 2026–2027 general election timetable, describing it as a politically biased schedule designed to favour the re-election agenda of President Bola Tinubu, and calling on all Nigerians to speak up enmasse to reject the revised timetable.

The ADC, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, on Friday argued that the new deadlines and compliance requirements under the Electoral Act 2026 create near-impossible hurdles for opposition parties seeking to field candidates.

On February 13, INEC initially scheduled the 2027 Presidential and National Assembly elections for February 20, 2027, while the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections were fixed for March 6, 2027.

The timetable, however, faced objections from some Muslim stakeholders who noted that the dates coincided with the 2027 Ramadan period.

Following the concerns, the National Assembly amended Clause 28 of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, reducing the required election notice period from 360 to 300 days, allowing INEC to adjust the election dates.

Subsequently, INEC released a revised schedule on Thursday, signed by its Chairman, Joash Amupitan, moving the Presidential and National Assembly elections to January 16, 2027, and the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections to February 6, 2027.

Reacting, the ADC said the requirement that political parties submit a comprehensive digital membership register by April 2, 2026, effectively bars opposition parties from participating.

The party stated: “The African Democratic Congress rejects the updated 2026–2027 electoral timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission. What has been presented as a routine administrative schedule of the upcoming general elections is, in fact, a political instrument carefully structured to narrow democratic space and strengthen the incumbent administration ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“According to the timetable, party primaries are to be conducted between April 23 and May 30, 2026, just 55 to 92 days from today. However, more significant is that, pursuant to Section 77(4) of the Electoral Act 2026, political parties are required to submit their digital membership registers to INEC not later than April 2, 2026.

“That is only about 34 days away. Section 77(7) further provides that any party that fails to submit its membership register within the stipulated time shall not be eligible to field a candidate. These are not routine administrative rules but are deliberately constructed barriers designed to exclude the opposition from participating in the election.”

The party further noted that Section 77(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 requires the digital register of members to contain name, sex, date of birth, address, state, local government, ward, polling unit, National Identification Number (NIN) and photograph in both hard and soft copies, while Section 77(6) prohibits the use of any pre-existing register that does not contain the specified information. It warned that failure to meet these requirements would lead to disqualification.

The ADC questioned the fairness of the digital membership requirement, noting that the ruling All Progressives Congress began its registration process in February 2025, long before the requirement became mandatory.

“It is not a product of foresight but insider advantage. They knew what was coming. They therefore had one full year to carry out an exercise that other political parties are expected to complete in one month, during which they must collect, process, collate and transmit large volumes of digital data to INEC under the threat of exclusion. This is practically impossible.

“Democratic competition is based on a level playing field that does not give any contestant an undue advantage. A system where one party exploits incumbency to gain a one-year head start on a requirement that other parties only became aware of when it was nearly too late is a rigged system.”

The ADC said it has joined other opposition parties in rejecting the Electoral Act 2026, adding that the INEC timetable is equally rejected as it appears designed to serve what it described as a self-succession agenda.

“Let it be clear that ADC will not take any action that appears to confer legitimacy on a fraudulent system. We are reviewing our options and will make our position known in the coming days,” the party said.

The party also called on civil society organisations, democratic stakeholders and Nigerians to scrutinise the timetable and demand fairness, stressing that democracy cannot survive when electoral rules are structured to produce predetermined outcomes.

The party has consistently accused the Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC) of scheming to silence the opposition as the 2027 General Elections draw closer, citing his manipulation of state governors and Assembly members from jumping ship, and settling with the ruling party.

Presently, the president’s party has a total of 31 out of 36 states governors, more than majority of the national and states Houses of Assembly.

A frontline publisher and chieftain of the ADC, Chief Dele Momodu, has warned that Tinubu is gradually transforming into full-blown dictatorship, stressing that his second term in office would turn state governors into ‘total slaves’.

Headline

Second Term for Tinubu Will Turn Governors into Total Slaves, Dele Momodu Warns

Published

1 week ago

February 28, 2026

Eric

Chairman, Ovation Media Group, and former presidential aspirant, Aare Dele Momodu, has expressed strong concern over what he described as growing political support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu among state governors across the country.

Speaking during an interview on News Central TV, Momodu said he was shocked by the level of backing the president is reportedly receiving, warning that Nigeria’s democracy could face serious risks if the current political trend continues.

The media entrepreneur cautioned that allowing Tinubu to secure a second term in 2027 could, in his view, lead to excessive concentration of power. He particularly criticized what he described as a growing wave of opposition figures aligning with the ruling All Progressives Congress> (APC).

Momodu referenced reports of opposition governors, including Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, allegedly moving closer to the ruling party, describing the development as politically troubling.

According to him, some governors are allegedly competing to demonstrate loyalty to the president ahead of future elections.

“The governors are fighting to ensure Tinubu wins a second term, fighting to be the biggest thug for him. If a man in his first term can capture the bodies and souls of Nigerians this way, imagine what he would do with a second term. It will be a full-blown dictatorship, and the governors will regret it as they become total slaves to him,” Momodu said.

He concluded by urging Nigerians to remain vigilant and actively protect democratic institutions, warning that unchecked consolidation of political power could threaten the nation’s democracy and future stability.

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