₦airaland Forum

Nigeria’s biggest carrier, Air Peace, has announced the suspension of all its flights from Friday. The airline said the decision was part of the concerted efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. This is coming hours after Aero Contractors announced the suspension of its flights.

In a statement signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Mrs. Toyin Olajide, Air Peace said, “It is with a great sense of responsibility that we have decided, in the best interest of our nation, our passengers and workforce, to suspend scheduled flight operations for 23 days effective 23.00hrs on Friday (an hour before midnight on Friday) the 27th day of March, 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This difficult decision was reached in order to, not only, support the efforts of the Federal Government and other stakeholders in curbing the spread of this virus in our nation but also to protect our teeming passengers and our staff from becoming victims of the pandemic.”

"The airline noted that passenger traffic had slumped drastically as a result of the pandemic, saying, “so it is therefore very unwise to continue raking up avoidable costs that the airline could ill afford. Continuation of flight operations in the present circumstances we find ourselves as airlines, could lead to the total collapse of any airline hence the need to quickly stem the rising financial burden and costs of operations.

"While the suspension is on, we are, however, willing to do special flights both for the government and our people. Normal scheduled flight operations shall resume on April 20, 2020. We regret any inconvenience this decision may have caused our teeming passengers,” he added.

Bauchi State Government has called on all the people who recently had personal contact with the state governor, Bala Mohammed, to present themselves to the Ministry of Health for Coronavirus test. The state Commissioner of Health, Dr Aliyu Muhammed Maigoro, who made this call during a media briefing on the Coronavirus pendemic, said that the state had recorded its first confirmed positive case of covid-19.

Daily Trust earlier reported that the executive governor of the state, Senator Bala Mohammed had tested positive for the virus. Governor Mohammed was in self-isolation after having contact with the son of Atiku Abubakar who tested positive for the Coronavirus. Maigoro, who said that the governor is still in good condition without showing any symptoms, added that he had commenced treatment in as he is in quarantine.

The Commissioner also disclosed that 30 additional samples of the governor’s aides and other government officials have been received for investigation at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control for confirmation. He explained that the ministry had quarantined all the identified government officials who had contact with the governor.

The commissioner therefore, called on everyone who had contact with the governor to come forward for test and treatment if result turned out positive. He added that the ministry have four designated isolated centres, adding that arrangements had been concluded to use Intensive Care Unit at the Specialist hospital for any confirmed case with renal failure.

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Party leaders disagree over NEC meeting Oshiomhole is gone — Obaseki camp Amid an apparent division within the top echelon of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there are reports of high level consultations to determine the fate of the embattled National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, at the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting slated for Tuesday, March 17, Daily Trust gathered yesterday. While our correspondents gathered from reliable chieftains of the party that a notification for the meeting had been passed, the party’s National Legal Adviser and National Publicity Secretary, Babatunde Ogala and Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu respectively, in a statement jointly signed late yesterday, said the National Working Committee was dissociating itself from the said notification.

It was gathered while a faction within the NWC supports the proposed meeting, another faction is averse to it. They argued that NEC would meet every quarter and or at any time decided by the national chairman or on a request made in writing by at least two-thirds of members of the NEC, provided that no fewer than a 14-day notice is given for the meeting to be summoned.

The statement added that the Deputy National Secretary of the party, Victor Giadom, who signed the notification, lacked the power to convey a NEC meeting, arguing that he was not directed by the national chairman to do so as stipulated by the party’s constitution. But pro and anti Oshiomhole camps are said to be all out to ensure the actualisation of their plots on March 17, even as another faction with the party leadership presumably sympathetic to Oshiomhole, dismissed the notification for an emergency NEC meeting.

Daily Trust earlier gathered that members of the two camps are seriously recruiting and wooing members of NEC with mouth watering offers ahead of the emergency meeting.

Oshiomhole’s latest nightmare started on Wednesday when an Abuja High Court ordered the party to stop recognising him pending the determination of a substantive suit seeking his perpetual removal. The national chairman who had previously survived numerous onslaughts rushed to a Federal High Court in Kano where he secured an order restraining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising any other person aside him as the national chairman of the party.

It was the pressure from the anti-Oshiomhole camp among governors of the APC that forced the party to convene the emergency NEC meeting which is expected to be attended by President Muhammadu Buhari. But a member of the NEC who is pro-Oshiomhole said the plot to oust the former labour leader would be “fruitless”.

Italian to be discharged soon Govt following up contacts Nigeria has one positive case out of 21 Two Chinese barred from Kaduna-Abuja train Nigeria has only one confirmed case of coronavirus as at yesterday, as the three suspects quarantined in Lagos have tested negative to the disease, Lagos Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said yesterday.

One of the suspects quarantined was a Nigerian who travelled to France eight days ago and arrived the country four days ago. He developed headache and respiratory problems which led to his isolation. Two other travelers from England and China were also quarantined after they developed certain symptoms. According to Abayomi, their samples were collected for tests to ascertain if they have been affected by Coronavirus. However, the commissioner tweeted that the three suspects had tested negative and discharged after they were certified free of the virus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation, African region has said Cameroon has announced the country’s first confirmed case of COVID-19. The patient is a 58-year-old French citizen who arrived in Yaoundé on February 24. The patient is now in isolation at the Central Hospital of Yaoundé for appropriate care.” Egypt has detected 12 fresh positive cases. The Vatican, Serbia, Slovakia, Peru and Togo have reported their first cases. The Italian who became the first person to test positive to Coronavirus in Nigeria has fully recovered and will soon be discharged from the isolation centre, Ogun State Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun, said yesterday.

The governor disclosed this when the management team of Lafarge PLC, led by its Country Chief Executive Officer, Khaleed El Dokani, visited him in his office in Abeokuta. His Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, quoted him in a statement: “He (the patient) is in good condition and will be discharged soon.” The governor described the virus as a serious threat to the status of Ogun as the nation’s industrial hub. He vowed that the government would not lower its guard towards curtailing spread of the virus. “For us, the virus is a serious one and an issue in the front burner. We will not lower our guard, particularly due to the fact that we have a large number of industries and expatriates here.

We are enjoying a lot of support from the World Health Organization and the National Centre for Disease Control. We are going ahead to prepare for the worst and hope for the best”, he said. He applauded the company for its prompt response by quarantining the first index case and the first set of contacts, urging the company to sustain the level of attention given to the issue. He, however, lamented the deplorable condition of some roads due to use of heavy duty trucks owned by major companies, urging the company to find ways of collaborating with the state government to maintain the roads.

The Italian flew into Lagos from Milan, a city badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak on February 25. A consultant to Lafarge Africa PLC, he had visited Lafarge Cement Factory in Ewekoro, Ogun State, but developed a fever and was treated at a clinic within the factory. Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, had told newsmen that he was stable with no serious symptoms and was being treated at a hospital in the city, but was later transferred to Lagos.

The patient was screened when he arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday and did not show any symptom of the virus, according to Nigerian health authorities. They later obtained the passenger manifest from the airline and started tracking people who had contact with him, according to Health Minister, Osagie Ehanire. At least 60 doctors were deployed to the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos to support screening effort. Last week, Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, told journalists that government had moved the Italian to a new facility to continue his treatment. He said the patient’s condition had improved and he would be continuously monitored.

“The patient is now comfortable and his condition has improved, his condition has improved, he hasn’t developed any new symptoms, but he still got fever,” the commissioner said last week, adding that after being confirmed to be free of the virus, he would be released. Since the confirmation of the index case, the government has been trying to trace everyone who shared a flight with him and who he had physical contact with in Lagos and Ogun, leading to the isolation of several people in Ogun.

The Lagos State government has isolated more people over suspicion of being infected, including one from France, one from England and one from China. “Their samples have been taken and results are being expected,” the state Commissioner for Health, Akin Abayomi, said. Coronavirus is reported to have killed more than 3,300 people around the world, mainly in mainland China, with more than 95,000 cases worldwide, and infections in more than 80 countries.

Nigeria has one positive case out of 21–Minister

There is only one confirmed case of coronavirus disease out of the 21 suspected cases in the country between January 7 and March 5, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said yesterday.

The Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, has insisted that there is no plan to stop flights to China. According to him, stopping flights to China is not a solution to fight the novel coronavirus. He spoke on Thursday at the 5th Africa Aviation conference being held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Daily Trust reports that many foreign airlines have stopped flights to China in the wake of the ravaging COVID-19 outbreak.

On a daily basis, passengers from China come into Nigeria via all the international airports where Ethiopian Airlines flies to. On Monday, a Chinese man aboard an ET flight was quarantined after persistently coughing on arrival at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos. The Chinese man was later found to be free of the virus. Last month, two major East African carriers – Kenya Airways and Rwand Air – had last suspended all flights to and from China until further notice.

Just on Tuesday, Kenya halted direct flights from Italy’s northern cities of Verona and Milan. But Gebremariam insists stopping flights to China is not a solution to fight the coronavirus outbreak. “Flying direct to China doesn’t mean we will stop novel coronavirus, because passengers from China can travel to African countries including Ethiopia through various other hubs.

That’s what the interconnected world means. “As per the directive of the World Health Organization (WHO), stopping flights isn’t the answer. Isolating China because it has novel coronavirus outbreak isn’t fair,” said Gebremariam. However, the ET CEO admitted the novel coronavirus disease is a major headache for Africa’s largest airlines with more than 120 international destinations.

“We’ve seen a 20 percent decline in demand. It’s a big shock, but aviation is used to this kind of shock. Diseases, natural disasters, wars, sudden spikes in oil prices, we’re used to it,” he added.

The Lagos State government has said it will not disclose the identity of an Italian national who tested positive to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), insisting it is against the ethics of medical practice to give out information about the identity of the patient.

Many Nigerians have been calling on government to disclose the identity of the Italian since he was announced as the first person with the virus in the country.

In a press parley with reporters at the Lagos Ministry of health on Wednesday, the Commissioner for health, Prof Akin Abayomi said the rules of engagement regarding patient-doctor confidentiality had compelled him not to disclose the name and other personal information of the Italian. He disclosed that the Italian man was responding to treatment, adding that a new treatment had commenced for the index case in the isolation ward at the Mainland hospital in Lagos.

In his explanation, Abayomi said: “We started a new treatment for him two days ago which he is responding fine to. He is comfortable but bored. At the moment, we are trying to make him comfortable because he is the only person in the isolation room with 14 beds, he has nothing to do all day long, nobody wants to come and visit him. We’ve made provisions for him to have wifi to connect to the outside world.”

“We are testing him everyday. What we are looking forward to is to see if there is still evidence of the virus in his secretion. The moment we stop seeing the footprint of the virus, then we wait for an extra two to three days to make sure he is okay. “Sometimes, when you clear the virus, there is an element of rebound before it goes away. If there is a rebound and we release him, there are chances of infecting people around him.”

Four corpses were found at a forest in Taraba State, Daily Trust gathered yesterday. The corpses were suspected to be those of ten passengers abducted by kidnappers along Wukari-Jalingo road last month. Daily Trust gathered that the victims were traveling to Jalingo from Wukari and were abducted at Bantaji and taken into the forest. It was further gathered that since the abduction of the passengers including their driver, Adamu Wukari, no information was got about their whereabouts.

A source in Bantaje, Mallam Musa Hamisu, told Daily Trust yesterday that a vigilante group which went searching for the victims found four bodies including that of the driver on Wednesday. The driver was buried by his family on Wednesday while the other three corpses are still in the forest.

They were yet to be identified while the remaining six persons are still missing. In Wukari, Mallam Idi Ibrahim, a relation of the late driver, Adamu Wukari, told Daily Trust that a vigilante group in Bantaje found the corpses in a forest between Borno-Kurukuru and Suntai Daji. According to Ibrahim, the driver ran into a road block mounted by gunmen along the road at Bantaji.

Adamu and the passengers were abducted and taken into the forest. “Since when Adamu was abducted early February, no news was heard of his whereabouts until Wednesday when his body and those of the three others were found in the forest,” Idi said. He said they were buried at about 6pm on Wednesday in Wukari.

Further findings revealed that the kidnappers’ den is located in a forest at the boundary between Gassol, Wukari and Donga local government areas. A source from Borno-Kurukuru village, Bello Sani, told Daily Trust that the vigilante group went into the forest and chased away the kidnappers after finding the bodies. The source said the kidnappers used the location south of Borno-Kurukuru to Suntai Daji as their den.

He said bottles of different drinks and other items were found in the den but the kidnappers escaped to a mountain in the area. The police spokesman in Taraba State, DSP David Misal, said the police had not received any information on the discovery of the corpses.

• They’ve no option — Senior lawyers

Lawyers in the team ordered by the Supreme Court to pay N60 million cost over their application seeking a review of the February 13 judgment on the Bayelsa governorship election have expressed their readiness to comply with the order. A seven-member panel of the Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered Afe Babalola (SAN) and Wole Olanipekun (SAN), lawyers for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and David Lyon to pay the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Governor Duoye Diri and his deputy Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo N10m each, totalling N60m. The confirmation of the payment came amid views in some quarters that the order was merely symbolic and parties were not bound to obey them.

But senior lawyers in the firm of Olanipekun and Lateef Fagbemi, and Afe Babalola who spoke on condition of anonymity said being a mandatory order of the apex court it must be complied with. A senior advocate who also appeared for APC in the matter, said the payment will be made in a few days’ time.

He said the fine was not the problem for the senior lawyers but the all-out criticism of their persons in the matter by the justices of the Supreme Court. “In these periods where the judiciary is facing all kinds of attacks, it is still people like Chiefs Afe Babalola and Wole Olanipekun who would go out and defend the judiciary. So, why would my lords do what they did?” the lawyer asked.

Reacting, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Austin Alegeh (SAN), said the fine would definitely be enforced because the lawyers would have to file proof of the payment of the fine to the court. On whether there could be further disciplinary actions from the NBA, the former president said the association is usually reluctant to be the complainant in matters such as this where none of the parties have petitioned. “It depends on the president. He can take it up suo moto and deal with it or if the lawyers from the other side make complain, the NBA would usually set up a panel to look into that,” he said.

However, Paul Erokoro SAN drew a distinction with fines for late filing of processes such as the office of the Attorney General of the Federation having to pay lawyers to Omoyele Sowore the sum of N200,000 fine for late filing of processes, which he said is mandatory. “But in this instance, it is for the respondents to enforce. If the respondents want to enforce it, it must be paid, but if they don’t want to enforce it, that is another thing,” he said.

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