West African leaders suspended Mali from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at an extraordinary summit Sunday, but stopped short of reimposing sanctions, after a second military coup in nine months. Ten regional heads of state and three foreign ministers attended the summit in the Ghanaian capital Accra, with former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan serving as a mediator in the crisis. “The suspension from ECOWAS takes immediate effect until the deadline of the end of February 2022 when they are supposed to hand over to a democratically elected government,” Ghana’s Foreign Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said after the meeting. The final declaration called for the immediate appointment of a new civilian prime minister and the formation of an “inclusive” government. In a statement, ECOWAS also reiterated that “the head of the transition, the vice-president and the prime minister of the transition must under no circumstances be a candida...

A policeman died on Tuesday after mistakenly detonating a grenade in Ebonyi State. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ebonyi state police command, DSP Loveth Odah said the police officer mistakenly hit the device and it exploded and killed him. She identified the police personnel as Idi Aminu, saying that the victim was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Simultaneously,  Ebonyi state Governor, Engr David Umahi as well confirmed that the device was a grenade of a security personnel and not a bomb as being speculated. The governor who spoke through his Special Assistant on Media, Francis Nwaze said: “The above news is in sharp contrast to the reality as the incident was a grenade of a security personnel carrying out his duties at the said location that accidentally exploded. A similar incident equally occurred in front of the Ebonyi State Old Government House as some mobile police officers were servicing their APC machine. The first incident took the life o...

  A 39-year-old British woman died in a Cypriot hospital after a blood clotting incident after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the official Cyprus News Agency said Monday. Charalambos Charilaou, spokesperson for the state health services, told CNA that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would investigate the death. The woman, treated at Nicosia General Hospital’s intensive care unit, received the first dose of the vaccine on May 6 in the resort town of Paphos on the western coast of the Mediterranean island. The woman, who was not named, developed symptoms days later, a ccording to the Cyprus Mail newspaper, the woman suffered a brain haemorrhage and was in a coma before she died. Charalambos Charilaou, spokesperson for the state health services, told CNA that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) would investigate the death. Cyprus health authorities have opened an investigation to see if the "serious thrombotic episode" was linked to the AstraZeneca jab. Four oth...

  President Muhammadu Buhari is deeply saddened over the air crash that claimed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, and other military officers.  A total of 11 people died in the  aeronautical  disaster  which occurred in Kaduna state.  In a statement,  Buhari  said the  crash  "was one mortal blow to our underbelly, at a time our armed forces are poised to end the security challenges facing the country" The Nigerian Army has said details of the crash would be announced in due course.  See the list of the personnel who died following the sad incident: 1. Lt Gen Attahiru 2. Brig Gen Abdulkadir (the principal general staff officer to the COAS) , 3. Brig Gen Olayinka 4. Brig Gen Kuliya ( the directorate of military intelligence) 5. Maj LA Hayat 6. Maj Hamza 7. SGT Umar ,   Crew 8. FLT LT Asaniyi 9. Flt LT Olufade,  10. SGT Adesanya 11. ACM Oyedepo 

A Nigerian national,  Abidemi Rufai  has been caught by the operatives of the  Federal Bureau of Investigations  (FBI) in New York on the  allegations  of wire fraud in the United States. According to a report on the US Department of Justice website, Rufai was arrested Friday evening at JFK Airport in New York on a criminal complaint charging him with wire fraud for his scheme to steal over $350,000 in unemployment benefits from the Washington State Employment Security Department. Mr. Rufai is popularly known as Sandy Tang, 42, is a Senior Special Adviser to the   Ogun State   Governor, Dapo Abiodun, and the reports said that he made his first appearance Saturday, May 15, 2021 in New York.  “Since the first fraud reports to our office in April 2020, we have worked diligently with a federal law enforcement team to track down the criminals who stole funds designated for pandemic relief,” said Acting U.S. Attorney G...

  The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has announced its support for the resolution taken by the 17 Southern Governors which placed a ban on open grazing of cattle across the states. ACF also called for restrictive law against the movement of cattles from neighboring countries. The Chairman of the Forum, Chief Audu Ogbe disclosed this in a statement on Monday. He said,”The ACF does not see any reason to object to a decision taken in the best interest of all. “The fact of the matter is that the crisis emanates from the belief by most herdsmen that they are free to enter any farm, eat up the crops and rape or kill any one raising objections. Nobody or society can accept that. “The current high price of garri is one obvious reason of this behavior. Few cassava farms can grow to maturity or be harvested by the farmers. So food security is already being threatened. “There is, however, the need to advise the governo...

  ATLANTA  : Delta  says it will begin requiring new employees to have been vaccinated for COVID-19,  the company announced Thursday.   A spokesperson for Delta Air Lines released a statement  saying, We know that vaccines are the best tool we have to protect one another and bring an end to the pandemic. Delta people have made great progress to achieve herd immunity within our workforce, so to help us maintain that trajectory, we will be requiring all new hires in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for an accommodation. This is an important move to protect our workforce and our customers as our business recovers and demand for air travel continues to rise. —  Delta Air Lines Spokesperson Elizabeth Ninomiya