₦airaland Forum

By Kelvin Osa Okunbor



Hundreds of Americans scheduled for evacuation from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Lagos to United States capital, Washington DC had their hope dashed as the airline Omni Air International was denied over flight permits by some African countries.



An Immigration hinted that the US nationals, who had been checked-in by the airport authorities, were seen collecting their baggage from through arrival baggage belts with the plan to go back home.



An Immigration source hinted that the flight to be operated by Omni Air International on charter operations was ‘cancelled due to the inability of the airline get over-fly permit.”

Overflight permits are authorisations from Civil Aviation Authorities (CAAs) to overfly any country’s airspace.

Overflight permits differ from country to country in terms of regulations and airspace coverage area.

Read Also; Air France airlifts 399 nationals out of Nigeria
According to global aviation requirements, overflight permits are mandatory requirements to be procured in advance third party provider for any planned route of flight.



Meanwhile, 637 French and German citizens were on Thursday evacuated from Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos by their governments.



Air France’s A330 airplane, which was the first to land departed at 13.56hr while Lufthansa German Airline departed with her nationals at 15.46hr.

Before their departure, the Germans underwent airport security formalities and screening for COVID-19 as they awaited the Lufthansa flight, which landed few hours after for the evacuation under ‘emergency’ and ‘humanitarian’ flight operations






https://thenationonlineng.net/denial-of-overflight-permit-stalls-evacuation-of-us-nationals/

[quote author=helinues post=88060108][/quote]It’s here already

helinues:
As in that was scary to read yesterday.

Is the chloroquine not working?

There is more to this corona theory

GamalNasser:
They know what they are doing

I agree with you

They know

It is due to the DNR order in place

Do Not Resuscitate

Governor Ben ayade of cross river state on inspection while he instructs the Cross River garment factory to produce face mask due to shortages in the market.

Blackfire:
Laudable




Or





Laughable

Laughable with the rate they attacked Lagos state Governor

Here you have it, relief materials from Rep. Onuigbo Abia State.

They'll be forming for us in Lagos

Convid-19 Relief materials distributed to abians by House of Representatives member onuigbo

ImadeUReadThis:
Do you see any cabin windows below deck.

That's not a hospital but a Q-Operation .

Q+++

Guy there is limit to ignorance

I am done with yah

J111333:
I wonder how people comfortably stay in Ogbomosho and start a conspiracy theory.
It will never be well with the new crop of Nigerian pastors.

It’s not ogbomosho oooo

It’s probably isi alangwa

ImadeUReadThis:
Its a prison and not a hospital.

R you seriously serious or joking?

helinues:
You guys will just be derailing thread with nonsense..

Just cos na sarki posted this, you have different opinions..

But you would have been dancing gelegele dance if na from your brothers.

You people hypocrisy stinks more than anything

They are enemies of the state

helinues:
Broda you should have ignored that guy.. There brain is stucked with Dem say Dem say news.

They have nothing upstairs jor

I totally agree with you leader

GamalNasser:
Useless democrats in Newyork doing everything to make sure the crisis worsens because they think it will affect Trump at the polls but they have failed !!!! This crisis will make American realise they need a Trump to make sure America supremacy is not surrendered to the Chinese after this ...This ship should break the dead lock in Newyork which that governor won't like

Young lad

I lived here

Please forget all the petty and local politics in Nigeria

Americans don’t play with human lives

Nothing like that useless kind of party politics you guys are ready to play at the detriment of people’s lives on party politics

We are one here and we will fight the monster called convid -19 from all the 5 boroughs to upstate Newyork moved it across the country

More pics

Lalasticlala

Mynd44

Two days after President Donald Trump took part in a departure ceremony for the USNS Comfort at Naval Station Norfolk on March 28, the massive hospital ship sailed into New York Harbor to provide much needed medical help to a city overwhelmed with rising numbers of coronavirus cases.

The USNS Comfort's sister ship, the USNS Mercy, has already been deployed and moored in Los Angeles where it has been serving patients since Sunday.


As positive COVID-19 cases continue to rise, New York City has already converted the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center into a temporary hospital and is setting up another field hospital in Central Park to help relieve the strain. The USNS Comfort will focus on providing medical services to those not afflicted by the coronavirus as hospitals continue to struggle to treat patients with the virus.

There are certain photos that stand out to mark pinnacle moments in our history. Images that encompass the emotions, struggles and determination to meet the challenges of our time. The following photos of the USNS Comfort's arrival into New York City have undoubtedly captured one of these moments, providing a city and country with a sense of hope in the fight against this pandemic.



https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/iconic-photos-of-the-usns-comfort-arriving-in-new-york-provides-a-glimmer-of-hope.html

100% correct

gion moves the North, politics moves the West, ethnicity moves the East
Published March 31, 2020

Azuka Onwuka



Over the weekend, it was reported that some rioters torched a police station in Kusada, Katsina State, leading to the death of one person, because of the arrest of an Islamic cleric who held public prayers on Friday in breach of the Federal Government’s ban on gathering of crowds as a measure to stem the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

Putting what happened in Katsina in context, it was not strange. Nigeria has three key problems that have bogged it down for decades: religion, ethnicity, and politics. The absence of a structure that puts these issues into cognisance and finds a solution to accommodate them in a positive way has ensured that Nigeria has stagnated or even regressed.


In summary, one can say that religion drives the North; politics drives the West, while ethnicity drives the East. By the East, one means the Old Eastern Region and the old Mid-Western Region.

The only part of Nigeria where the arrest of a religious leader for disobeying a Federal Government directive can lead to the burning of a police station is the North. And in the North, it will mainly be in the North-East, North-West and a small part of the North-Central. In Northern Nigeria, you dare not toy with Islam in whatever form. The passion for Islam is even higher than what obtains in Saudi Arabia where Islam has its headquarters.


In the North, political differences may hardly cause any quarrels. That is why in the Second Republic, Mallam Aminu Kano, with his People’s Redemption Party, controlled Kano State, the biggest state in the region (which then had Katsina as part of it), at a time Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria was the President of Nigeria. At the same time, the Great Nigeria People’s Party, led by Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim, was in control of the old Borno State (which includes the current Yobe State). That did not create any problem or riot in the North.


Last month, the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, was deposed and banished by the Government of Kano State. Some feared that it could cause a riot in the Kano and other Northern states, but nothing happened. The reality is that such a thing does not have the capacity to ignite a riot in the North.

If the Oba of Benin or the Obi of Onitsha had been deposed and banished for speaking against poverty, street children, low illiteracy rate and inequality in their domains or because of perceived political differences with the governor, it would have created an uproar in Edo and Anambra states respectively, with other neighbouring states speaking fiercely condemning the governor. In fact, the governor would not even contemplate deposing such a traditional ruler over such seemingly petty issues for fear of the consequences. An extreme action like that could only arise if the traditional leader is accused of a serious criminal offence like robbery, fraud, kidnapping, or any action that is deemed as bringing his office to disrepute.


Similarly, it will be hard to see the North riot over poverty, harsh economy or lack of employment. But it will be easy for the North to riot if there is any action taken against Islam in any part of the world, be it Denmark, Britain, France or the United States.

Police extort motorists to cross Delta boundary
In addition, the Boko Haram insurgency, which has its roots in religion, cannot happen in any part of the South. There can be an uprising in the South over ethnic or political issues, but never over religion.


The Middle Belt, which is also part of the North, draws its strength of unity from religion: Christianity. The people of this zone see themselves as united by Christianity in a region dominated by Muslims.

Conversely, when it comes to the Western part of Nigeria, religion can never make it to resort to violence. As I wrote in an August 2012 article entitled, “Religious tolerance: Are the Yoruba Number 1 in the world?”, there may not be any ethnic group or race that is more tolerant than the Yoruba on the issue of religion. Man and wife or twins can be Muslim and Christian and live in peace. A family may have a Muslim father, a Christian mother, a Christian first daughter of a different denomination, an animist first son, an atheist second son, and yet live in peace, with everyone celebrating each religious feast as one family. People can be voted offices irrespective of their religious inclinations. That is why the religious division being created by the Muslim Rights Concern, led by Prof Ishaq Akintola, is dangerous to what the South-West is known for.



However, when it comes to politics, the South-West is least tolerant of dissenting views in Nigeria. That is why the political violence that happened in the First Republic tagged Operation Wetie could not have happened in any other part of Nigeria except the South-West. A Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe from the East can be the presidential candidate of the Nigerian People’s Party while his kinsman Dr Alex Ekwueme is the vice presidential candidate of the NPN under Shagari. Such cannot cause any conflict. It is the same in the North.



In the South-West, there is usually one mainstream party to which every “true Yoruba” or omoluabi is expected to belong. Any other party is seen as the party of saboteurs, and anybody who belongs to it is viewed harshly and is hardly ever forgiven. Anytime a South-West state is not controlled by that mainstream party, all is not seen as being well until that state is brought back to the fold. The unwritten law is that when it comes to politics, all South-West states must be controlled by the mainstream party of the South-West. Anything to the contrary is seen as an aberration.



In the South-East and the South-South, a different scenario plays out. Religion and politics do not make the people draw the lines. What fires them up is more of ethnic loyalty. Within the zones, you can belong to any political party or religion without much crisis. However, when the people feel that their well-being is threatened, they mobilise and resist such. That was what led to the Biafran War in 1967. The people of the Eastern Region, especially the Igbo, felt that their existence was threatened in Nigeria and resisted it. Before it, the uprising for the creation of the Niger Delta Republic, which was started by Isaac Adaka Boro on February 23, 1966 was for the same reason. Boro believed that the Igbo and the Federal Government were dominating the people of Niger Delta.



Similarly, Ken Saro-Wiwa led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People because of his belief that the Federal Government was tapping the crude oil in Ogoniland and devastating the land without doing much for the people. That movement ended in the hanging of Saro-Wiwa in 1995. But shortly after Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, sons of the Niger Delta took up arms against Nigeria, blowing up pipelines and kidnapping oil workers as their way of protesting the neglect of their land. It later ended in 2009 with an amnesty.



These are clear signs that show that what beats the drum to which each part of Nigeria dances is different. The tastes, values, desires and worldviews of the different parts of Nigeria are different. What one part sees as immaterial or insignificant means the world to the other zone and vice versa. That is why it has been disastrous trying to run Nigeria like “one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity.”

The only option open to Nigeria to have a modicum of progress is if it is run like a true federation with each zone given the free hand to pursue its dreams. It is a reality that has been difficult for some Nigerians to come to terms with. Yet, it is a reality that continues to thwart every attempt made to circumvent it.




https://punchng.com/religion-moves-the-north-politics-moves-the-west-ethnicity-moves-the-east/

That really shows Coro no send age be that

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — Students at Western Michigan University are mourning after a student died of COVID-19.

On Sunday, the university president, Edward Montgomery, identified the student as 25-year-old Bassey Offiong.

“Bassey was a young man of enormous potential who was scheduled to graduate with his degree in chemical engineering in just a few weeks. On behalf of the entire Bronco community, I want to extend my deepest condolences to his entire family, including his sister Asari, who has been generous in communicating with us regularly. They are in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time,” Montgomery stated.

Offiong was from Detroit. He attended Renaissance High School, where he was a notable part of the football team, according to friends.

Friends say he was devoted to his family, faith and a peaceful person.

“This is the first (person) close to me that died. I actually knew him, that was my brother,” said Offiong’s friend Sean Bigham.

Bigham said losing Offiong in this way has blindsided everyone.

“I love him, man. He was the best person you could be. I’m sorry this happened to somebody as good as you,” added Bigham.

Kalamazoo County Health Officer Jim Rutherford confirmed COVID-19 led to Offiong’s death.

Rutherford said while Offiong was not a resident of Kalamazoo County, “however, this virus has no borders when it comes to who it affects and how it is spread. We urge everyone to help us fight community spread by following the Governor’s executive order. Stay home and, if you must go out for essential items, stay safe by taking preventative measures.”

Kalamazoo County has 19 confirmed cases of COVID-19



https://www.woodtv.com/health/coronavirus/wmu-mourns-25-year-old-student-who-died-of-covid-19/

Seriously we don’t know what is called opposition

We play petty too much

Let’s do real opposition on key issues

ukukaegbu:
You earlier said that is the APC flag, but the one behind Jonathan is not the PDP flag.

I don’t know that’s why I sought opinion and contributions of others

Racoon:
Abeg tell that to your zombies

No one is spared from convid 19

Him own better Sef day him get small cash

We don’t need to play politics now

agabusta:
That is not APC flag. Compare the colours. It is as I mentioned earlier, Armed Forces Flag.

Thank you

Las las all of us go dey alright

It doesn’t really matters where he made the speech

He’s mobile and can address the nation from anywhere

agabusta:
That is not APC flag. Compare the colours. It is as I mentioned earlier, Armed Forces Flag.

Ok