Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekweremadu has denied the trending report that he called for military intervention in Nigeria, just as the labour has warned it would resist military in politics.

I never called for a military coup. I never said the military was planning any coup. Even the militarys statement admitted that my statement was only cautionary and that we were sincere. But they went as far as saying that the international community should ignore my words of caution.

According to the , Ekweremadu said in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on Sunday that comments on the floor of the Senate, though unambiguously in defence of democracy.

The comments, he said, were either being twisted or misconstrued by some persons.
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He was a guest of Governor Seriake Dickson when he and other African lawmakers attending the 74th Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Africa Region) Executive Committee were invited for a dinner, reported.

The denial was reported by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu.

Ekweremadu said he has respect for the Nigerian Armed Forces, and that comments made by lawmakers in the course of their duty should be situated within the proper context before any form of reaction.

Of course, some people took it out of context and said I was calling for a military coup.

I hold the Nigerian Army and the Armed Forces in high regard. They have defended our democracy, our people and have acquitted themselves creditably.

If they need anything now, it is encouragement because this is not the best of times for them. But we do hope that when parliamentarians make statements, they (the military) should be able to know exactly what they said before reacting so that we dont overheat the system.

Meanwhile, the organized labour has warned that irrespective of several challenges facing the country, it would resist any illegal and undemocratic takeover of government in Nigeria.

According to the , the labour said it was disturbed by some subtle insinuations from some quarters that the military would venture into the politics of the country.

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, cautioned those mooting the idea to desist from throwing Nigeria into anarchy.

ASCSN s position came on the heels of reports credited to Ekwueremadu.

In a statement issued in Lagos, ASCSN President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and the Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, contended that any takeover of government by military again would take the country 50 years backward.

It is common knowledge that since the elected government of Sir Tafawa Balewa in 1966, suspended the 1963 Federal Constitution and imposed a unitary system of government, the countrys growth has been stunted.

We are also aware that all democracies in the world including that of the United States of America, Canada, Europe, etc, are not perfect but are still evolving and being improved upon.

The shortcomings being experienced in building democratic institutions in Nigeria were not peculiar and that with time, some of the flaws would be rectified.

Thus, under no circumstances should individuals, no matter how highly placed, should begin to hint of military takeover of government in Nigeria.

Source: NAN

The body of Aliyu Akwe-Doma, former Governor of Nasarawa State, arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja on Saturday night.

The remains were transported in a Turkish Airline.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the body was received by a delegation of the state government comprising commissioners, special advisers and interim management committee chairmen.

Others include Rep. Ogoshe Onawo, associates and family members of the deceased.

NAN reported that the body was taken to the residence of the ex-governor in Asokoro Abuja, from where it would depart to his home town for burial.

Doma, who died in a hospital in Israel on March 6, would be buried in Doma Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, on Sunday.

Doma was the second civilian governor of the state from 2007 to 2011. (NAN)

Source: NAN

The National Electoral Commission of Sierra Leone has started releasing the results of the March 7 general election with All Peoples Congress (APC), and Sierra Leone People Party (SLPP) leading other parties.

The Chairman of NEC, Mr Mohammed Conteh, declared the progressive result at the commissions headquarters in Freetown on Saturday.

The results, representing 50 per cent of the polling stations in each of the five districts, he said, had been cleared by NEC Tally Centre Information Technology Systems.

According to him, Mr. Samura Kamara, candidate of the ruling All Peoples Congress (APC), has so far polled 566, 113 votes and is followed by his key rival and candidate of Sierra Leone People Party (SLPP), Maada Bio, who has 564, 687 votes.

Similarly, he announced that National Grand Coalition (NGC)s candidate, Kolle Yemkulla, got 87,722 votes while Samuel Sam-Sumana of Coalition for Change (C4C) polled 44, 685 voters.

Other candidates were Kamaraimba Mansaray of Alliance Democratic Party (ADP) who secured 13, 507 votes; Musa Tarawally of Citizens Democratic Party (CDP) with 5,682 votes and Chernoh Bah of National Democratic Alliance (NDA), 4, 144 votes.

The chairman also announced that John ODwyer of National Progressives Democrats (NPD) scored 2,063 votes; Patrick Sandy, National Unity and Reconciliation Party (NURP), 1,132 votes and Baba Conteh of Peace and Liberation Party (PLP), 2, 100.

According to him, Francis Margai, Peoples Movement for Democratic Change (PMDC), got 5, 216 votes while Victor Williams of Republic National Independent Party (RNIP) polled 1,252 votes.

Other results announced were 6,036 votes secured by Jemba Ngobeh of Revolution United Front Party (RUFP); Mohamed Sowa-Turay, United Democratic Movement, 2, 923; Henry Kabuta, United National Peoples Party (UNPP), 1, 468 votes.

Olufemi Claudius-Cole of Unity Party (UP), he said, got 1,643 votes.

Conteh assured that NEC, as the only authority responsible to announce election results, was committed to producing accurate results that reflected the will of Sierra Leoneans as expressed on the ballots.

He disclosed that the tally figures would again be released when result from 75 per cent polling stations in all districts had been cleared.

In the 25 per cent results earlier released by the commission, APCs Kamara polled 291,933 votes and Bio of SLPP had 274, 352 votes.

By the countrys electoral laws, results of the elections would to be announced in percentages starting from 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 75 per cent before the final results which would produce the winner of the contest.

A presidential candidate must receive 55 per cent of the total valid votes cast to win the election.

If no candidate reaches 55 per cent, the two candidates with the most votes will participate in a run-off or second round of the election.

Answering questions, Conteh said he was not under any pressure and that nobody could pressurise him to do something wrong.

He said that the commission, for now, was giving more attention to the presidential election results.

In the elections, votes were cast for parliamentary and local county seats, results of which were still awaited. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Popular entertainment star turned activist, Charley Boy has apologized to President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki over an unverified post to spite the lawmaker.

Charley had taken to his tweeter handle @Areafada1 to cast aspersion on the President of the Senate over a picture where Saraki was seen cleaning mud from his trousers.

Apparently misled by social media posts, Charley Boy had written: E never start. Saraki after he escaped the mob attack by people of lafiagi in his own state. May all those who have conspired to render us hopeless, penniless and frustrated, may nemesis catch up with them.

E never start. Saraki after he escaped the mob attack by people of lafiagi in his own state. May all those who have conspired to render us hopeless, penniless and frustrated, may nemesis catch up with them.

Charlyboy(Official) (@Areafada1)

However, hours later and upon realizing that the photograph was taken when Saraki led a delegation on an oversight visit to assess the level of oil spillage in Ogoniland in 2012.

The entertainment star therefore tendered an unreserved apology to the President of the Senate saying: APOLOGY TO SENATE PRESIDENT SARAKI My earlier post on Senate president Bukola Saraki was incorrect. I admit I was in a hurry to post before verifying the veracity of the story. I apologize for this avoidable error.

APOLOGY TO SENATE PRESIDENT SARAKI
My earlier post on Senate president Bukola Saraki was incorrect. I admit I was in a hurry to post before verifying the veracity of the story. I apologize for this avoidable error.

Charlyboy(Official) (@Areafada1)

Some Nigerians who reacted to the apology commended Charley Boy for the bold step and urged the President of the Senate to accept the apology.
See thread below:

Charlyboy(Official) (@Areafada1)

Source: NAN

Senator Stella Oduah has felicitated with Nigerian mothers on the celebration of the 2018 mothers day and have charged them to remain anchors of development.

In a message to Nigerian mothers on the occasion of the celebration, the senator who represents Anambra North in the National Assembly described women as special breed created for special purposes.

Happy mothers day to all my sisters, mothers and daughters. You are indeed the spice of the universe.

Women are special breed indeed. God took out a special day to perfect the creation of women.

Oduah who is the vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Women Affairs therefore charged women to use their special qualities to ensure the development of their zones stressing that women held the key to developing Nigeria.

As women and mothers, we must be tolerant and focused, we must be the anchor of community development.

God made us tenacious for a purpose. Let us work hard to build our zones for our children. The development of our zones will herald the development of our nation.

Women thou are blessed. Happy mothers day to you all, she said.

Source: NAN

Lightning has struck a Seventh Day Adventist Church in Rwanda, killing no fewer than 16 people and injuring dozens more, a local official said Sunday.

Fourteen victims were killed on the spot as lightning hit the church in the Nyaruguru district in the Southern Province on Saturday, local mayor Habitegeko Francois told AFP over the phone.

Two others died later from their injuries, he said.

He added that 140 people involved in the incident had been rushed to hospital and district health centres, but that many had already been discharged.

Doctors say that only three of them are in critical condition but they are getting better, he said.

According to the mayor, a similar accident took place on Friday when lightning struck a group of 18 students, killing one of them.

Source: NAN

The Nigerian Government has congratulated Mo Abudu, Chimamanda Adichie and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, over the honours recently bestowed on them on the global stage, calling them great ambassadors of Nigeria.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the three honorees are iconic women in the Creative Industry who have brought great honour not only to themselves, their families and their industry, but also to the country.

He described as well deserved the listing of Mo Abudu, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EbonyLife TV, and Nollywood star Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde among the top 50 women who are doing extraordinary things on the worldwide stage by Variety magazine, a weekly American entertainment magazine.

Alhaji Mohammed also said the already well-adorned cap of Chimamanda Adichie has been further festooned after her novel, Americanah, was listed in the New York Times list of 15 remarkable books by women that are shaping the way we read and write fiction in the 21st century.

He said the women are role models whose achievements will inspire a generation of young Nigerians to also do extraordinary things.

Of more importance is the fact that these womens achievements have transcended gender, nationality or race, placing them on the rarefied class of global, timeless achievers, the Minister said.

He said the great honours bestowed on the women will further focus world attention on the nations burgeoning Creative Industry, thus placing it on the right pedestal to take the world by storm.

Source: NAN

UNAIDS is elated with mid-way results from two studies that show a vaginal ring releasing long-acting antiretroviral medicine to prevent HIV infection in women.

Reports say that the results show that studies is up to 54 per cent effective in preventing HIV.

The ring, which is replaced monthly, slowly releases the antiretroviral medicine dapivirine and could give women an additional HIV prevention option that is discreet and that they can control.

Michel Sidib, Executive Director of UNAIDS, said: These results are significant. Structural, behavioural and biological factors make women more vulnerable to HIV infection.

So it is extremely important that they have the opportunity to protect themselves from HIV, on their own terms.

The interim results are from two large open-label studies conducted in South Africa and Uganda, which trials enrolled women between the ages of 20 and 50 years.

Open-label studies are studies in which the participants know which medicine is being used; that is, no placebo substance or treatment with no active therapeutic effect is used.

The HOPE trial, which began in August 2016 and enrolled more than 1,400 women by October 2017 the time of the interim review found a 54 per cent reduction in HIV risk.

This means that the rate of new HIV infections was 1.9 women newly infected for every 100 participants in a given year.

Based on statistical modelling, the researchers determined that the rate of new infections would have been 4.1 for every 100 had the women not been offered the ring.

The DREAM trial, which enrolled 940 women from July 2016, had similar findings, with a 54 per cent reduction in the HIV incidence rate.

However, the final results from both studies are expected in 2019, according to the UN HIV/ AIDS agency.

UNAIDS said adherence was shown to be high in both of the trials, although the measures of adherence were not able to determine whether the women used the ring all of the time, most of the time or just some of the time.

It said the DREAM study showed that more than 90 per cent of the women in the study used the ring at least some of the time, based on residual drug levels, and the HOPE study showed that 89 per cent of returned rings indicated that the ring was used at least some of the time within the previous month.

This is the first time that efficacy of more than 50 per cent has been observed in HIV prevention trials involving only women.

Two previous phase III trials presented in 2016 ASPIRE/MTN-020 and the Ring Study/IPM 027 which did include a placebo group showed only modest protection (30 per cent) against HIV infection for women.

Women from both ASPIRE and the Ring Study were included in the HOPE and DREAMS trials, UNAIDS explained.

Other scientific advances in HIV prevention presented in recent years, according to UNAIDS, included the PROUD and IPERGAY studies, which in 2015 reported an 86 per cent reduction in HIV acquisition among HIV-negative men who took antiretroviral medicines to prevent HIV.

Another is the 2011 HPTN 052 trial announcement, which showed that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy can reduce the risk of transmission to an uninfected partner by 96 per cent.

Similarly, the 2011 Partners PrEP and TDF2 studies, showed that a daily antiretroviral pill taken by people who do not have HIV infection can reduce their risk of acquiring HIV by up to 73 per cent.

Finally, the South Africa Orange Farm Intervention Trial, funded by the French Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA (ANRS) and published in 2005, demonstrated more than a 60 per cent reduction in HIV infections among circumcised men.

These important breakthroughs show just how critical it is to continue to invest in research and development into new and effective HIV prevention options, Sidib said.

The latest reports show that in 2016, funding for HIV prevention research and development was its lowest level in a decade, with no indications that investments are set to increase.

UNAIDS stressed that in spite of the recent scientific discoveries, there was still no single method that was fully protective against HIV.

To end the AIDS epidemic, UNAIDS strongly recommended a combination of HIV prevention options.

These could include the correct and consistent use of male or female condoms, waiting longer before having sex for the first time, having fewer partners, and voluntary medical male circumcision.

Other options are avoiding penetrative sex, the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis for people at higher risk of HIV infection and ensuring that all people living with HIV have immediate access to antiretroviral medicine. (NAN)

Source: NAN

Kenyan health officials have issued an alert after samples taken from patients confirmed the presence of H1N1 prototype 9 influenza virus.

The samples were taken from the patients suffering from flu in Laikipia County, central Kenya, reports.

Mr Donald Mogoi, a chief officer in charge of health in the area, said a child is suspected to have died of the flu two weeks but the deadly virus was confirmed on Tuesday by the National Public Health Laboratories.

The five-year-old boy died at the Nanyuki Cottage Hospital and was being treated for pneumonia, his dad said.

Mrs Evelyn Obongo, a clinical officer at the regional hospital, Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital, said Wednesday that her team is attending to at least 60 cases with 15 cases already admitted to the wards.

Most of the patients are children, Mrs Obongo said.

Cases of the flu have been on the rise in the last two weeks, she added.

The diseased is characterised by high fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, dry cough and general body weakness.

Source: NAN

Anita Eboigbe

Popular rapper Olamide Adedeji aka Baddo, has proposed to his long standing girlfriend and mother of his son, Adebukunmi Aisha Suleiman.

The love birds have been together since 2011 and have a son Maximilaino Adedeji, born in 2015.

He announced the proposal on Snapchat @baddosneh, some hours after wishing her a happy birthday on the same platform.

The YBNL boss is said to have bent on his knee before Aisha as he proposed to her birthday on Thursday which coincidentally was marked International Womens Day with the theme: Press for Progress.

Olamide wrote: My senior wife Oya we have a wedding to plan.

Olamide, who raps mostly in Yoruba, has been described as the voice of the ghetto.

The Bariga born artist recently released a seven minutes visual to his hit song Science Student amidst controversies surrounding the message of the song.

He recently bagged the Listeners choice award at the just concluded Sound city MVP awards.

Olamide came into limelight in 2011 with his debut album Rapsodi before starting his label YBNL in 2012.

Source: NAN