Nigeria’s foreign minister tests positive for coronavirus

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19, and became the first member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to contract the new coronavirus.

Onyeama, 64, said on Twitter he had taken a COVID-19 test because of a throat irritation.

“Did my fourth COVID-19 test yesterday at the first sign of a throat irritation and unfortunately this time it came back positive,” he tweeted. “Heading for isolation in a health facility and praying for the best.”

Buhari’s cabinet has been conducting executive council meetings virtually as part of measures to keep the government working while abiding by social distancing rules.

The government started a phased easing of lockdowns in May after implementing measures to slow the spread of the virus, which has killed 778 people in Nigeria and infected more than 36,000.

Onyeama has played a role in repatriating Nigerians stranded because of travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Buhari’s former chief of staff, Abba Kyari, died in April from the novel coronavirus, making him the most high profile person in the country to die from the virus.

CGTN

'Bandits' kill 23 Nigerian soldiers in northwest

At least 23 Nigerian troops were killed when they were ambushed by a gang of so-called "bandits" in a remote village in the northwest of the country, security sources said on Sunday.

The gang opened fire on the soldiers as they walked through a forested part of the Jibia district in Katsina State, the sources told AFP news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The bodies of 23 soldiers have been accounted for while some are still missing," a military source said.

In the past, the armed gangs, known locally as "bandits", have been involved in cattle rustling and kidnappings, but a number of experts have recently warned that they could be forging ties with hardline groups in the region.

One militia member said the toll could be "higher than 23", as a search for missing soldiers was under way.

Also on Saturday in the same area, five children were killed and six others injured when a bomb accidentally exploded, a spokesman for Katsina State police said.

It was not clear whether the explosive had been left by the bandits, the statement said.

Katsina State, where President Muhammadu Buhari originates from and where the vast majority of the population lives in extreme poverty, has become increasingly volatile in recent years.

The Nigerian army regularly raids the forests where the armed groups hide, but the number of soldiers is insufficient and villagers organise themselves into civilian militia.

In May, the International Crisis Group, an NGO, warned that the armed gangs could be developing links with groups such as Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The "bandits" have killed about 8,000 people since 2011 and forced more than 200,000 to flee their homes, according to an estimate by Brussels-based Crisis Group.

Al Jazeera

Police rescues American lady locked in Lagos hotel after fake marriage, arrests Nigerian

Nigeria Police operatives have rescued an American lady confined in a Lagos hotel where she was held against her wish for over a year.

Force spokesman, Frank Mba, made this known in a statement on Sunday.

The victim, from Washington DC, is a retired civil servant in the United States.

She arrived Nigeria on 13th February, 2019 on a visit to a Nigerian, Chukwuebuka Kasi Obiaku.

The 34-year-old is a native of Ikeduru LGA of Imo State. The duo met on Facebook.

The victim was freed by agents attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Ogun State annex.

The operation followed information received from a Nigerian in the Meiran area of Lagos State.

The Police described Obiaku, a graduate of Business Administration and Management, as an internet fraudster who has defrauded many both locally and internationally.

He lured the American to Nigeria under the pretext of love and deceitfully married her on 15th May, 2019.

The suspect subsequently held her captive in a hotel and extorted a total of $48,000.

Obiaku also forcefully took control of her credit and debit cards and operated her bank accounts, including the receipt of her monthly retirement benefits and allowances.

This went on for a period of fifteen months.

Obiaku also used the victim as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies.

He will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.

By Wale Odunsi
Daily Post

Seven killed in Nigeria oil facility blast

Seven people have been killed in an explosion at the Gbetiokun oilfield in southern Nigeria's Niger Delta region during the installation of a ladder on a platform, the state oil company said on Wednesday.

"Detailed investigation of the cause of the explosion has commenced, while the Department of Petroleum Resources has been duly notified," the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation said in a statement about the incident which happened on Tuesday.

It added that "all personnel on board the platform" had been accounted for.

Although Tuesday's incident was due to an operational factor, pipeline and tanker truck explosions are common in Nigeria, the biggest oil producer on the continent, with about two million barrels per day.

Pipelines in the region are exposed and often unguarded, making them easy targets for anyone with access to explosives.

International oil companies have increasingly focused on offshore projects in Nigeria, partly to offset the risk to onshore operations in the Niger Delta.

The latest accident occurred at OML 40, operated by a subsidiary of state-owned oil firm NPDC and the Elcrest joint venture. NPDC did not say whether production was affected.

Nigeria is battling the effect of lower crude oil prices on government revenues and its currency after the coronavirus pandemic crashed demand for supply.

Al Jazeera

Nigerian Senate passes sexual harassment bill

Nigeria's Senate has passed a bill aimed at combating sexual harassment as part of a broader move to uphold ethics in the nation's universities, legislators said.

University lecturers found guilty of sexually harassment or teachers who make sexual overtures towards students could be jailed for two years under the proposed law.

It also prescribes fines or jail terms for university administrators who fail to probe allegations of sexual misconduct brought against staff members.

Senate President Ahmad Lawan described the proposal as "landmark legislation."

"We have to protect our daughters from predators," Lawan said. "We want our tertiary institutions to be a very safe environment for everyone, and this is a legislation that will ensure that wish," he said in a statement issued by his office Tuesday.

Students found guilty of falsely accusing lecturers of sexual misconduct could also be suspended.

The Senate in a statement on Wednesday said the bill had been sent to Nigeria's lower house for deliberation. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari would also have to consent to the bill for it to become a law. A draft of the legislation was first introduced in the Senate in 2016.

Lawmakers revisited the bill and passed a motion to investigate the growing cases of sexual harassment in 2018 after master's degree student Monica Osagie, who alleged her professor asked her for sex to upgrade her marks, granted CNN an exclusive interview about the allegations.

The lecturer, Richard Akindele, was fired from the Obafemi Awolowo University after the interview, which drew public discourse to the case.

Akindele was jailed for two years for demanding sexual benefits from the student in December 2018.

CNN