Authorities in Eritrea have released 36 Christians who had been in detention for their faith, on bail.
The prisoners are all from Christian Evangelical and Pentecostal denominations, 14 of whom have been in detention for the past four years in the Dahilik island and the remaining Twenty-two others arrested at end of last month.
In 2002 Eritrea introduced a new law that forbids all churches except for the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran denominations.
Since September 2020, the government has released over 48 prisoners who have spent years in detention, however, many christians are still incarcerated and others, routinely arrested for their faith.
The Eritrean government has accused and continues to accuse Pentecostal and Evangelical Christians of being instruments of foreign governments.
The country of Eritrea has been ruled by Isaias Afwerki since its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, with no elections, no parliament and a constitution that has never been enforced.
South-west Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has disclosed that his administration would by the middle of May 2021, commission four brand new Fire and Emergency Stations in Ifo, Ado-Odo-Ota, and Isheri parts of the state.
Prince Dapo Abiodun who made this known while on an inspection tour of the Isheri Fire and Emergency Station, said that the fire station which is almost 95 to 96 per cent completed is in fufilment of his promise during the electioneering to ensure that the state does not have to rely on Lagos State to fight fire outbreak on the Ogun part of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
“The fire station is about 95 to 96 per cent completed; we have acquired the fire trucks and water trucks that will be here. We’ve built four of these stations; one in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government in addition to what they have and another one in Ifo Constituency 1.
“In the entire Ifo, we found out that there was no fire station, so, we built two fire stations in both Ifo I and Ifo II constituencies. Ifo now has two fire stations, and they will be getting two brand new fire trucks.
“We should be coming here in the next three to four weeks to formally commission this fire station, amongst other fire stations that we will be commissioning towards the middle of May, 2021,” he said.
Abiodun who also added that the fire stations when commissioned would be equipped with new fire trucks and water trucks, said part of his administration’s Emergency Response System is the combination of fire trucks and ambulances on the same spot.
While recalling that his administration upon assumption of office took stock of fire stations in the state, he revealed that that they were not habitable and not fit for any human use, as a result of years of neglect.
He however assured that his administration would continue to put the people first.
“When we resumed office, we decided to take stock of our fire stations, but, what we saw was embarrassing, I am not sure that the fire stations have been attended to, probably in the past 12 to 14 years. They were not habitable, they were not fit for any human use, they were not premises that would even motivate anyone to attend to any fire, so, we have embarked on the massive rehabilitation of existing ones. We have rehabilitated the stations, we have acquired new fire trucks.
“All these we will be unveiling, they are part of our emergency response system in Ogun State which is the combination of fire trucks and ambulances.
Former banker Guillermo Lasso won Ecuador’s presidential election on Sunday after his socialist opponent Andres Arauz conceded.
According to the National Electoral Council said Lasso had 52.51 percent of the vote compared to Arauz’s 47.49 percent with 93.14 percent of votes counted.
Earlier, television stations Ecuavisa and Teleamazonas published the results of the Cedatos exit poll that gave Lasso almost a 6.5 percentage point lead over Arauz.
Lasso, aged 65, is a third-time presidential candidate having finished second to former president Correa in 2013 and Moreno in 2017.
Voting is obligatory, and opinion polls had the rivals neck and neck heading into the election for Ecuador’s 13.1 million registered voters to pick a successor to the deeply unpopular Lenin Moreno.
Arauz, is virtually unknown but topped February’s first round of voting on the back of support from his mentor, Correa, who led the country from 2007-2017.
Arauz, the candidate from the Union of Hope coalition, topped the first round with almost 33 percent of the vote, 13 percentage points ahead of Lasso, from the Creating Opportunities movement.
Lasso will take over from beleaguered Moreno on May 24 and will immediately face an economic crisis exasperated by a 7.8 percent contraction in GDP in 2020.
At the same time, the country has been hard-hit by the pandemic, with hospitals overwhelmed by more than 340,000 coronavirus infections and more than 17,000 deaths.
Tense presidential elections have held in Benin as people cast their votes early on Sunday in a vote that has been marred by violence during campaigning.
Incumbent President Patrice Talon is facing only two rivals which are Alassane Soumanou and Corentin Kohoué, while opponents are either exiled abroad or barred from running due to the new electoral code and institutional reform.
Benin will also elect a vice-president for the first time and Talon has chosen a woman for the post; Mariam Talata, a 57-year-old philosophy professor who is charismatic and a feminist.
In the South of the country, campaigning was lackluster but in the North, serious violence broke out after residents blocked roads and the army cleared the way using live ammunition.
According to the Autonomous National Electoral Commission (Cena) the roadblocks caused a delay in the deployment of electoral materials in the North.
However, The president has promised a sure first-round victory and is staking his economic record in his bid for a second term.
Nearly five million voters are expected in over 15,000 polling stations across the country including in southern Cotonou, Porto Novo, Bom and Calavis
Presidential elections have held in Chad with incumbent Idriss Deby expected to extend his three-decade rule in the seven-candidate race.
The 68-year-old who was one of the first to cast his ballot on Sunday, faced no major rivals and a campaign in which demonstrations were banned or violently dispersed.
Asides Deby, the other candidates include a former prime minister under Deby, Albert Pahimi Padacke, and Felix Nialbe Romadoumngar, who is officially leader of the opposition as his URD party is the second largest in the National Assembly with eight seats, after 160 for Deby’s PDS.
Also joining the race is Lydie Beassemda, the first woman to run for president in Chad’s history.
However, seven candidacies were rejected by the Supreme Court while three withdrew, including longtime opposition politician Saleh Kebzabo, who quit in protest over violence by the security forces.
Opposition leaders have called for a boycott in protest against Deby’s leadership.
Chad has been a key ally in the West’s anti-jihadist campaign in the Sahel and Deby has campaigned on a platform, promising security.
The former rebel and career soldier seized power in a coup in 1990. After being voted in, he changed the constitution in 2018 to allow him to stay in power until 2033.
He has maintained a firm grip on the military and state institutions to maintain power.
Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh is making his first visit to Turkey on Monday since taking office last month.
Turkey’s presidency said Dbeibeh will hold a two-day visit and that President Erdogan would chair the first meeting of the Turkey-Libya High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Ankara.
The meeting would also discuss cooperation on energy and health as well as resumption of projects by Turkish companies that stopped due to the war.
Turkey has said that Turkish firms would take an active role in rebuilding the war-torn country.
A new unity government was sworn in on March 15 from two Libyan warring administrations resulting in a smooth transition of power after a decade of violent chaos.
Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), which was supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France.
Dbeibeh would visit Ankara with a team including 14 ministers, five deputy prime ministers, the chief of staff and other officials.
Nigeria’s Confederation Cup hopefuls, Enyimba were battered 3-0 Sunday night by bottom-placed ES Setif of Algeria. The result and the 3-0 defeat of Libya’s Al Ahli by South Africa’s Orlando Pirates mean that Enyimba dropped to the second position on the Group A log.
Amir Karaoui shot Setif ahead after 31 minutes before Mohammed Amoura doubled the lead almost at the dot of 45th minute enabling the hosts to get a 2-0 advantage at half time.
In the 65th minute, conversion of a penalty kick award by Akram Djahnit put the game beyond redemption for Enyimba who will now have to win their next game, an away duel against Al Ahli Bengazi on 21 April.
It could have been worse for Enyimba but for an 80th minute penalty save by Goalkeeper John Noble who this time saved another penalty kick by Djahnit.
Two teams from the group will advance to the quarter final stage.
Senate Public Accounts Committee has summoned a former managing director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Gimba Yau Kumo, to appear before it to explain the rationale behind the alleged irregular award of N3bn when he was at the helms of the affairs of the bank.
The Senate panel, while scrutinising the 2015-2018 report of the Auditor General for the Federation, took the decision following a query raised against the FMBN by the AuGF in the document.
The Chairman of SPAC, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, at the last sitting of the panel, said the Auditor General’s report revealed that the contract was awarded in four phases to a single contractor.
The query raised by the AuGF in the report read:
“Audit observed that a contract was awarded to a contractor in four phases at a total contract sum of N3,045,391,531.97.
“Audit however observed that the second, third and fourth phases of the contract were above the approval thresholds of the Bank.
“It was also observed, from the examination of payment documents, that the contractor was overpaid in the sum of N118,717,892.72 that resulted from irregular addition of 5 per cent Withholding Tax in the Bill of Quantity on each of the four phases of the contract.
“Audit further observed, from physical inspection of the site, that a provision of N 80, 000,000.00 was made and paid for the implementation of “Unified Access and Attendance System” but the device was not working according to specifications.
British born Actress Bukky Bakray has said she hopes that people see the “beauty in life” as she was named winner of the EE Rising Star award at the Bafta film awards.
She got her big break starring in 2019 coming-of-age drama Rocks, where she plays a British-Nigerian schoolgirl called Shola – ‘Rocks’ to her mates – who faces a tumultuous coming-of-age journey when her mother disappears.
Bakray was born in Hackney, East London to Christian Nigerian parents and grew up on an estate in Lower Clapton near where Rocks was filmed. She has three brothers and a sister who lives in South Africa.
The award is the only one to be voted for by the public, and previous winners include James McAvoy, Noel Clarke, Kristen Stewart and Tom Hardy.
Bakray was one of five nominees alongside Kingsley Ben-Adir, Morfydd Clark, Sope Dirisu and Conrad Khan.
Speaking after her win, Bakray said: “I hope that viewers see the beauty in the mundane experience and they see the beauty in life and human beings as people.
“I think when you look at Rocks’ narrative, it’s not flashy, it’s not crazy, there’s no guns, there are no stunts, there is no this and that.
“Even though I love films that have that, this film is really minimalistic. It really focuses on life and human nature and humanity.
Nigerian Government on Thursday began the transportation of pipes for the implementation of the $2.8bn Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Gas Pipeline project.
96 pipes were moved at once by train from Warri, Delta State to Itakpe in Kogi State.
This is comparable to 32 trailers on the road as it reduces the cost of transportation.
Upon completion, the pipeline which will transport natural gas from Ajaokuta, in Kogi to Kaduna and Kano States, is expected to revive industries in those parts of the country and create jobs.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on June 30, 2020, flagged off the construction of the 614-kilometre AKK Gas Pipeline project.
The AKK project is part of the delivery of the present administration’s Next Level Agenda for sustainable development, enhancement of economic prosperity and increase of the country’s infrastructure assets.
Reacting to the development, the Group Managing of the NNPC, Mele Kyari said “We congratulate our team on the arrival at 10.25pm 8.4.2021 of AKK gas project line pipes by rail from Warri to Itakpe. Less cost, faster delivery time, safer, protecting our roads and more…..The infrastructure revolution is paying up.”
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