Turkey’s Recep Erdogan threatens to expand offensive to other northern Syrian cities

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday threatened to expand Turkey’s offensive against the Afrin region in Syria to other cities in the country’s north to remove the presence of the Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara views as terrorists. “We will continue our fight until there is no terrorist on our border leading to Iraq,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, vowing to “clean up” the city of Manbij, east of Afrin, also held by the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia. Turkey launched its military operation dubbed “Olive…

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Trump to apologise for retweeting anti-Muslim videos

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with the UK ITV broadcaster, partially released on Friday, that he was prepared to apologise for his retweets of UK right-wing group’s anti-Muslim videos. In November, Trump retweeted several unverified videos, originally posted on Twitter by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right Britain First movement, which claimed to show violent acts committed by what the group considered Islamists. “If you’re telling me they’re horrible racist people, I would certainly apologise if you would like me to do that. I knew…

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Federer blows away Korean giant killer for Aussie Open final

Roger Federer majestically moved into the Australian Open final on Friday, after his opponent, South Korea’s Hyeon Chung retired injured, with foot blisters. Federer had already ruthlessly claimed the first set 6-1 and was cruising 5-2 in the second set, when the Korean decided to opt out of the game. The Swiss ace, who has 19 Grand slam trophies in his name, will now meet Croatian Marin Cilic in the final on Sunday. By qualifying for the final, Federer has become the oldest person since 1972, to play in the…

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No case of Lassa fever confirmed in FCT – Director

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it has not yet recorded any case of Lassa fever in the territory. The FCT’s Director of Public Health, Dr Humphrey Okoroukwu made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday. He dismissed the speculation on the reported case of Lass fever in Asokoro General Hospital as “false”. Okoroukwu explained that some samples of the suspected cases were taken to Irrua Laboratory in Edo State and the result was negative, while that of another suspected…

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Nigeria Set to Vaccinate 25 Million People Against Yellow Fever, Says WHO

The Nigerian government with support from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners will today launch a mass vaccination campaign to prevent the spread of yellow fever in the country. According to WHO, more than 25 million people will be vaccinated throughout 2018 in the planned campaign, which it declared is going to be the largest yellow fever vaccination drive in the country’s history. The organisation revealed that the immunisation plan is part of efforts to eliminate yellow fever epidemics globally by 2026. The preventive campaign it said, will use…

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President Buhari has failed – Femi Okunnu

Elder statesman and former Federal Minister for Works and Housing, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, SAN, has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari has failed Nigerians following his inability to end the killings by herdsmen in many parts of the country. He said this while speaking with newsmen at his office in Lagos. Okunnu, who is thee National President of Ansarud-deen Society of Nigeria, said: “I am troubled about these unnecessary killings. Let me say this, people of my generation are in the process of committing suicide when we see the way the…

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Niger govt begins immunisation of 1.4 million children February 8

The Niger Primary Healthcare Development Agency says it has targeted 1.4 million children under the age of five for immunisation against measles from February 8 to 26 across the state. Mohammad Usman, the agency’s Social Mobilising Officer, made the disclosure on Thursday at a sensitisation workshop for media practitioners ahead of the exercise in Minna. Mr. Usman said that the exercise would be in two phases. He said that the agency had reached out to religious and traditional leaders to ensure the success of the programme. The social mobilising officer…

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Investors in cryptocurrencies are gamblers- Emefiele

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday said that it would  not render support to Nigerians investing in cryptocurrency, describing such investment has gambling. The Governor of the CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele stated this in Abuja during an interview with Bloomberg. Emefiele’s warning is coming on the heels of increasing transactions in cryptocurrencies in Nigeria. Data from LocalBitcoins, a Bitcoin start-up company, showed that Nigeria came second in the world’s peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin transactions last year outpacing major European countries, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Emefiele however…

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My battle with Davido was bigger than fighting Sani Abacha – Dele Momodu

Ovation publisher Dele Momodu says his two-year rift with singer Davido, while it lasted, was the biggest battle of his life. Momodu and the singer had reconciled during his annual Ovation Christmas carol after their falling out in December 2015. The ace journalist had said the “true reconciliation” was facilitated by Davido’s father, Tunji Adeleke. Appearing as a guest on reality TV show ‘Celebrity Housemate’, Momodu told contestants that Davido’s popularity made the rift “bigger than fighting Abacha”. He said: “The Davido issue was my biggest battle ever. It was…

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Before ex-President Obasanjo erases history

While writing on certain things is sometimes a complete waste of time, not doing so is sometimes a complete disservice. After all, there’s virtually no single socio-political problem in Nigeria you will comment on without repeating yourself or recycling the same solutions you offered before. This sadly signifies the little or no progress we are making towards national development. Many people had rightly advocated for the ‘take the message and leave the messenger’ formula whenever Chief Obasanjo speaks. The truth however is, the issue is far much more beyond that,…

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