[dropcap]C[/dropcap]hief Ambrose Elofu-Dike,The Chairman of Umudike Farms Limited and Hotel De Espana,Asaba has thrown his weights behind Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s two-week extension of the lockdown order aimed at checking COVID-19 spread in the state and has appealed for calm over the recent protests in Sapele-Delta State.

Elofu-Dike, made the appeal in a telephone chat with Grassroots Publishers online , however he condemned the alleged shooting of one of the protesters by security agents and called for the arrest and prosecution of the culprit(s).

He said that the arrest and prosecution of trigger-free Police Officer would serve as deterrent to others. While noting that the lockdown has caused untold hardship on the people, the Farmer and Hotelier pointed out that the long-term benefits of the stay-at-home order is to protect the citizens from contracting the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19).He explained that authorities at all levels of government are making frantic efforts to get palliatives to the poorest of the poor.
“No doubt, the lockdown has caused difficulties and inconveniences for many citizens but in these trying times, it takes courage for our elected leaders to adopt global best practices by extending the lockdown so as to curb the spread of the deadly Coronavirus disease and save lives.

“As our amiable Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has said, our common objective is to contain the spread
of the Coronavirus and to provide space, time and resources for an aggressive and collective action while ongoing
comprehensive public health measures including case identification, testing, isolation and contact tracing capabilities
are intensified.

“No doubt, the lockdown has caused many inconveniences for millions, especially for our daily wage earners and many
others in the informal sector but for a disease that ravages with no guarantee of cure, and the fact that life has no
duplicate, staying at home to curb its spread is a most reasonable imperative.

“Too many lives are being lost and far too many families are going through deep grief caused by Covid-19;all over the
world, while the Delta State government weighs possibilities of making things better, we should all strive to
appreciate the deep seriousness of the issue.

“Nonetheless, warnings about social distancing, hand-washing and other preventive measures given by relevant state and
federal authorities deserve our adherence.

“These are trying times, palliatives and sacrificial giving from government, the private sector and individuals can make
things easier. Importantly, we all need to support efforts being made by the federal and state authorities including the
Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) towards curbing Corvid-19 and saving our people’s lives,” he stated.
“It is regrettable that we have four cases in Delta.It is unfortunate though, that one of the victims died shortly
after. May his soul rest in peace.”

Elofu-Dike, however, expressed what he described as “discriminatory” manner the federal government was sharing
government’s palliative to cushion the effects of the stay-at-home order.

“We at Hotel de Espana in its entirety, the Federal Government’s discriminatory manner of allocating more of the
palliative money to the North to the detriment of the Niger Delta States that contribute 90% of the country’s revenue.

“We further urge every Delta sons and daughters to maintain the sit-at-home order to avoid the spread of the disease and
possibly contracting it he added.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]housands of protesters stormed timber town in Sapele, Delta State , on Wednesday, demanding an end to the extension of lockdown in the state. The governor, Ifeanyi Okowa had in a broadcast to residents of the state, Tuesday morning, announced the extension of the 14-day Lockdown which began on April 1, for another two weeks and imposing a dusk to dawn curfew.

Few hours after the broadcast, hundreds of women took to the streets of the town, as early as 7:30am demanding an end to the lockdown. Chanting “we no go gree o, we no go gree” by some of the women, others chanted “freedom, freedom” the women in their thousands were joined by other residents of the town including artisans, tricycle motorcycle riders, and others.

“We prefer to come outside and die than to be locked indoor, we have stayed inside for two weeks we can’t go to the market, we can’t go anywhere, we are hungry, we will not accept this” Vanguard quoted one of the protesters, Madam Tina Akpometiro as saying.

According to the report, the Sapele local government chairman, Hon Eugene Inoaghan, tried to pacify the crowd with loads of security men but the crowd didn’t bulge. They kept chanting “we want freedom, we want freedom” however there was pandemonium when the chairman left, with the crowd openly confronting security men with stones, an action that led to burning of tyres and wood.

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]elta state capital,Asaba, experienced its first curfew in history from 7pm on Wednesday, April 15, to terminate at 7am on Thursday, on the orders of the state Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, to further enforce the stay – at – home order prompted by the fight against the corona virus. The curfew is for a period of two weeks.

According to our reporter who monitored compliance in some parts of the capital city, the popular Koka junction, on the Onitsha/Benin expressway was busy with activities at 7 on the dot.

There was no presence of security personnel from the junction to Summit junction on the expressway, as okada, taxi cabs and mini buses operated without challenge.

The story was, however, different at Summit road junction where a police check point was in place to monitor vehicular movement, with the ever busy junction totally deserted.

The next check point was at the Inter Bau junction and the policemen there were dutiful.

No other check point was seen from the Inter Bau junction to the Police ‘A’ Division, though the entire stretch was free of vehicular and human traffic.

Traffic Light junction also had a watertight check point and no vehicle or person was seen outside, except those who had cause to be out by virtue of the conditions spelt out by government.

The curfew continues tomorrow.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Federal Government has said that people with over N5, 000 in their bank account will not benefit from the palliatives to cushion the effect of the lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government also said that it will be using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less.

Besides, the state governments will now be involved in the distribution of food items. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq stated this while briefing State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Minister also said that the Ministry will now focus on the urban poor as it carries out with President Buhari’s directive on the distribution of palliatives to cushion the effects of COVID-19 on Nigerians. According to her, “You are aware that the President in his broadcast of Monday 13th April, directed that we expand the beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer by one million and in this regard, we are going to focus more now on the urban poor. “These are people who depend on the informal sector to earn their livelihood; they are daily wage earners and these are the people that we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities.”

Giving details on how to identify the beneficiaries of the stimulus, she said that the Ministry has three options to be adopted in selecting the beneficiaries of the scheme. She said, “Well, we have three options; one, we are going to use the national social register that we already have, two, we are also going to focus on the urban poor as I mentioned, by using their verified BVN accounts to get them, that is, people that have an account balance of N5, 000 and below. “We are also using the mobile networks, to know people that top up the credit units for their phones with may be N100 or less.

Those are also people that we consider to be poor and vulnerable. So, these are the three options that we are exploring and I am sure that by the time we get this data we will be able to give this intervention.” She, however, said only 25 percent of the population would benefit for now, adding that the scope might be expanded later. She said, “Let me also say that we have a standard. 25 percent of the total population is what we will take out. It cannot go round everywhere but we are starting from somewhere. “25 percent of let’s say the location of Lagos state for example is what is going to benefit from this intervention that we are doing. Going forward, we might expand it but this is what is obtainable for now.”

The Minister said her ministry intends to handover the distribution of food relief items to State governments, so as to address the challenges associated with distribution faced in the past. She said, “On the issue of palliatives in terms of food relief, we have an emergency response plan in place. In the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, we have different functional groups.

“One of such groups, is that which deals with mass care, logistics and security, to be led by the National Emergency Management Agency under the Ministry and they have a structure; from National, States, down to Local Governments, where the various State Emergency Agencies and other security agencies are involved in this distribution. “So far, we have already done the distribution together with the State authorities in these two states affected by the lockdown, together with the FCT but going forward, when we are going to give these food items, we are going to hand them over to the states because issues have come up, as at yesterday (Monday,).

“Our people were mobbed, some of them were attacked in the course of carrying out this assignment so the general conclusion is that we give this food relief directly to the State governments for them to distribute to the beneficiaries.” EU Donation Also speaking on the N21 billion support given to Nigeria by the European Union to fight COVID-19, the Minister said the donation is coming in form of medical equipment and provision of structures that will help Nigeria fight the deadly disease.

“This donation is coming in kind basically by way of medical equipment and also some structure to be put in place as a response to this COVID-19 pandemic. “In that intervention, there are also humanitarian issues that would be addressed.

As you are aware, this is a health emergency but at the same time it is also a humanitarian emergency so the Ministry is going to come in here because we are to coordinate all humanitarian interventions coming into the country by way of making sure that such interventions get to the poor and vulnerable in our society,” she said. Vanguard

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he United States President, Donald Trump, has announced the suspension of funding to the World Health Organisation, claiming the agency had covered up the seriousness of the COVID-19 outbreak in China allowing it to spread around the world.

Mr Trump on Tuesday at a press conference said he has instructed his administration to halt funding while “a review is conducted to assess the WHO’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

Mr Trump had accused the WHO of wasting “tremendous amounts of time” in its coronavirus response.

While Mr Trump blamed the international health agency for the pandemic, reports show that he also ignored warnings from his own intelligence agencies of the virus’s severity.

The president had six days ago threatened to suspend the U.S. funding for the agency while expressing grievances with its handling of the novel coronavirus.

“They missed the call. They could have called it months earlier. They would have known, and they should have known, and they probably did know,” he had earlier said.

According to Mr Trump, WHO prevented transparency over the outbreak. The United States is the largest contributor to the UN body – provided $400 million last year — and will now “discuss what to do with all that money that goes to the WHO.”

“With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” Mr Trump added.

Rising cases and deaths toll

Meanwhile, the U.S. has now topped the chart of the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 globally.

As at 23:03 GMT Tuesday, about 2,284 coronavirus-related deaths were reported, according to worldometers.info, bringing U.S. deaths from the outbreak to 25,924.

New York City, which has emerged as the global epicentre for the virus, increased its death toll by an additional 3,700 people who were previously not included in those figures.

The city’s new tally has climbed to more than 10,000, edging the U.S. count to 26,000.

[dropcap]U[/dropcap]rban poor Nigerians with an account balance of N5,000 or less will be among the beneficiaries of the Federal Government Conditional Cash Transfer scheme. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouk, made this known on Tuesday.

Nigerians who regularly top their mobile phones with between N100 and N200 will also benefit.

The third category of beneficiaries are the daily wage earners as well as people living with disabilities.

The minister, who had earlier updated the president on the activities of her ministry, revealed that those saddled with the responsibility of carrying out president’s directive on expansion of the social register would focus more on the urban poor.

“You are also aware that Mr President in his broadcast yesterday (April 13) has directed that we expand the beneficiaries of the Conditional Cash Transfer by one million.

“In this regard, we are going to focus more on the urban poor.

“These are people who depend on informal sector to earn their livelihood – They are daily wage earners and these are people we are really going to focus more on as well as people living with disabilities,’’ she said.

The minister further explained that apart from the National Social Register, the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) and previous record of purchase of recharge card by mobile phone owners would form parts of criteria in identifying the beneficiaries of the cash transfer

“We are also using the mobile network, people that top up their phones with maybe N100, N200. These are the people we consider to be poor and vulnerable,’’ she added.

She stated that the prospective beneficiaries would be part of the additional one million households approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to boost the nation’s social register.

President Buhari had on Monday in a broadcast directed that the current social register be expanded from 2.6 million households to 3.6 million households in the next two weeks.

The president said that the expansion of the social register is part of the palliative measures to address the hardship being experienced by the poor and vulnerable members of the society as a result of the extension of the lockdown order.

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ot on the heels of anticipated resurgence of social activities after the ongoing restriction of movement as part of the containment measures against COVID-19 spread would be the rise in momentum of processes leading to Edo State gubernatorial poll. From the look of things around and within the state, the coming weeks and days promises to be interesting times for incumbent Godwin Obaseki, who has not hidden his determination to seek and secure a second term in office, as governor of Edo State.

But for the intrusion of COVID-19 anxieties, the state would have been embroiled in the contentious issue of what method to adopt for the governorship primary earlier scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

At the build up to last month’s botched meeting of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, Governor Obaseki had convened a meeting of South-South leaders, ostensibly to pencil a likely replacement for the embattled national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. Within that period, when it seemed so probable that Oshiomhole was on the verge of losing his stake as the national chairman, Obaseki exulted in his new role as the giant-killer and leader of change-makers in the ruling party.

Obaseki’s allies and foot soldiers, both at the national and state levels, mobilized efforts in the South-South zone to fine-tune strategies aimed at ensuring a seamless exit of Oshiomhole from office as national chairman during the planned meeting, both of the national caucus and NEC. Some prominent stakeholders of the party from the South-South, including the former governor of Rivers State, now Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, were said to be involved in the search for Oshiomhole’s replacement to ensure that the position did not elude the zone.

Although supporters of Oshiomhole, particularly members of Edo Peoples Movement (EPM) and APC National Vice Chairman, South-South, Mr. Hillard Ntufam Eta, warned stakeholders in the zone to stay away from the meeting scheduled for Benin City, investigations by The Guardian showed that the meeting later proved to be the undoing of Obaseki’s camp.

Sources within the party, which pleaded anonymity to respect the reconciliation efforts in the party, disclosed that by insisting that Oshiomhole’s prospective successor come from South/South, the Obaseki camp lost the strategic buy-in of crucial northern stakeholders in the ‘Oshiomhole-Must-Go’ plot.

“We expected that they should have nominated a former governor from the north to support the argument that Oshiomhole’s replacement was a stop-gap meant to reconcile the various points of disagreement in the party,” the source explained. “When we confronted them with the riskiness of their gamble, the South/South stakeholders told us that their people would not be happy with them for throwing away a position zoned to them. At that point we did not have sufficient argument to put across during the meeting with the presidency.”

It would be recalled that the South/South national vice chairman, Eta, had argued in a statement he issued to denounce the meeting, saying that Obaseki was not vested with the party’s constitutional powers to call a meeting of zonal leaders. Etta disclosed that the political leader in the zone, “the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, is not aware of any such meeting. So we are calling on all our leaders not to attend any such meeting because it is ill-conceived and ill-motivated.

“At this point in time, we are focusing on how to strengthen our great party under the leadership of Comrade Oshiomhole and not to destabilise the party.”

With the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari, through the office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari, a cessation of hostilities was ordered, just as the NEC meeting was adjourned indefinitely to pave way for a healing process under Oshiomhole’s charge alongside the Chief Bisi Akande committee.

Although the semblance of an atmosphere of ‘no-victor-no-vanquished’ was created through the presidency’s intervention, parties to the disagreement seem to have taken the development as a mere postponement of the showdown.

Back to the trenches
The mutual suspicion and antagonism have continued between the main gladiators, notably Oshiomhole and Obaseki, culminating in a recent meeting of leaders of EPM, where plans to ensure that the incumbent does not get APC’s ticket on a platter were explored. Sources at the meeting confided in The Guardian that after examining scenarios that preceded governorship primaries in certain states where the party’s tickets were subjects of hot contention, it was agreed by majority of those in attendance that the Gulak option seemed more potent.

Some of the states where APC had contentious gubernatorial primaries included Lagos, Zamfara, Bayelsa and Imo States. While in the instance of Lagos State the incumbent was denied a second term ticket through the political cleverness of some powerful chieftains, in Imo attempts by the then outgoing governor Rochas Okorocha to impose his son-in-law gave rise to what the Edo Peoples Movement now refer to as the Gulak treatment.

It was gathered that of the two options considered in the meeting held in the home of a governorship aspirant, the Gulak option was preferred so as to “ensure that Obaseki does not feature on the ballot.”

Signs that Governor Obaseki’s second term ticket would be the major cause of renewed confrontation emerged when the Deputy National Chairman (North) of the party, Senator Lawal Shuaibu told reporters after he was readmitted to the National Working Committee NWC meeting that Obaseki was APC’s strongest candidate for the Edo State governorship election.

Shuaibu, who has the support of APC’s state governors, has been the arrowhead of the internal disagreements within the NWC, especially after he wrote the highly inflammable letter charging Oshiomhole of high handedness and lack of capacity to lead the ruling party. It was gathered that most of the first term governors are united in the demand for Obaseki to be handed the party’s ticket without contest in line with agreements at the presidency.

But, sources at the recent Benin meeting resolved that since there is nothing like automatic ticket in APC constitution, Obaseki should be made to face the party faithful during the governorship primary.

In the alternative, Oshiomhole’s supporters were said to have insisted that the only way Obaseki could get an affirmative primary is for him to accede to a set of demands, which the source disclosed were not different from those set out by the immediate past Deputy Governor, Hon. Pius Odubu, during the victory rally in support of Oshiomhole after the reprieve from the presidency.

While declaring that March 16, 2020 as “a day of victory for justice, due process and the rule of law,” Odubu had stylishly reeled out what they considered as Obaseki’s sins against APC stakeholders. After recalling the alleged decision of Obaseki to scuttle his appointment as board chairman of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Odubu declared that the last straw was “the attempt to remove the national chairman of APC.”

He had stated further: “It started with the illegal midnight inauguration of the 17th of June, 2019 where majority of our members-elect were excluded from inauguration and till today they have not been inaugurated.

“He thereafter proceeded to the harassment and attack of party members who are not disposed to his second term bid. Even the national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was not spared as he has been attacked severally both in Benin City and in his hometown, Iyamho.”

Apart from the adoption of the Gulak approach to displace Obaseki, it was also gathered that the other highlight of the meeting was a call on the four prominent APC governorship aspirants, including Dr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, Odubu, Gen Charles Aihiavhere and Pastor Osagie Ize-Iymau to harmonise their ambition to ensure the emergence of a consensus candidate to face Obaseki at the primary.

However, special adviser to Obaseki on Media and Communication Strategy, Mr. Crusoe Osagie, dismissed the tantrums of the ‘dissidents’, stressing that Odubu “has remained a frontrunner in the factionalisation of Edo State Chapter of APC,” maintaining that it behooved the national chairman, Oshiomhole, to be guided by the tenets of the peace efforts by Mr. President and the party.

State’s party chairman, Mr. Anselm Ojezua, did not take his calls or reply to messages sent to his GSM phone on the implications of the plan to deny Obaseki a second term ticket through the dubious Gulak option.

Story courtesy of the Guardian except the headline

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Covid-19 continues to spread in the kingdom, prayers will continue to take place at home, not in mosques.

Muslims will only be permitted to pray at home in Saudi Arabia during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, the Saudi minister of Islamic affairs announced on Monday. This will remain the case until the coronavirus pandemic ends worldwide.

Since 19 March, group prayers at mosques have been suspended in an attempt to contain the outbreak, a measure set to continue according to the minister, Abdul Lateef al-Sheikh.

Sheikh said the daily obligatory prayers observed by Muslims are more important than taraweeh prayers in Ramadan, adding that the instructions to stay home were in line with advice from the health ministry.

“The suspension of performing the five daily prayers at mosques is more important than the suspension of taraweeh prayers. We ask Allah the Almighty to accept taraweeh prayers whether held at mosques, or homes, which we think is better for people’s health,” Sheikh told local media.