Author: The Gazelle News

By Abdulwarees Solanke It would be unrealistic for any country, unless it has a very small population with a centralized infrastructure and bureaucracy, to consider that it could prepare a detailed and comprehensive pandemic plan in weeks, or even months. Two of the reasons tis plan take time is that there is need for multi-sectoral approach and the need to involve the community. Multi-sectoral approach means involvement of many levels of government and people with different areas of skill, including policy development, legislative review and drafting, animal health, human population health, patient care, laboratory diagnosis, laboratory test development, communication…

By Dare Ojelade, Blessing Williams and Sofiyyah Abdur Rasak, Lagos Popular actress, Funke Akindele a.k.a Jenifa, and her husband, Abdul Rasheed Bello popular called JJC Skillz have been ordered to supply the GSM numbers and addresses of all attendees of their party which took place on Sunday, 5 April, 2020 at Amen Estate, Lagos, The Gazelle News.com can report. This was part of the ruling delivered by Chief Magistrate Yewande Aje-Afunwa when the couple were convicted on Monday, 6 April, 2020 at an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court, Ogba. Aje-Afunwa while sentencing the couple had ordered that they should provide…

By Timothy Alao, Osogbo Traditional rulers in the State of Osun have thrown their weight behind the administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for taking proactive steps in curtailing the exponential  spread of the dreaded Coronavirus disease in the State. The traditional rulers also commended the state government for declaring total lockdown of the state as a way to prevent the communal spread of the disease just as they expressed satisfaction with the steps taken so far by the government to fight the scourge. This was contained in a statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary General of the…

By Dare Ojelade, Lagos The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) provided a pleasant surprise for a recent returnee from the United Kingdom (UK) when its officials called on him to know his health status after 14 days of his return to Nigeria. The Gazelle News.com reports that Mr Oluwaseyi Oduyela, Nigeria-born US journalist came into Nigeria Monday, 16 March, 2020, in the wake of the outbreak of the virus in the country. At the Airport, all the passengers were given forms to fill where they all supplied their details. Their temperature was also checked with those with unusual high…

Oyo State governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde, formally resumed work on Monday, 6 and immediately conducted an inspection tour of the state’s largest isolation centre- Infectious Disease Centre, Olodo, Ibadan. The governor, who appeared calm and relaxed, said that he was thankful to the people of the state for their fervent prayers during his isolation period. A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, further quoted the governor as saying that his government plans to conduct COVID-19 tests on 10,000 persons in the state. According to the statement, the governor added that the state…

By Dare Ojelade, Blessing Williams and Sanni Taofeek, Lagos The Lagos State Government has discharged two more Coronavirus patients after they have attained full recovery from the virus infection. The Gazelle News.com reports that the two discharged patients are females and they were discharged after testing negative twice to the virus. The cheering news was broken on Monday, 6 April, 2020 by the state Governor and Incident Commander for the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on his Twitter handle. With the latest discharge, the number of discharge patients in the state has risen to 31. Below is the full message from…

African governments have been admonished to see the urgent need to intensify efforts to build roads, railways and other cross-border infrastructure as Investment in infrastructure is a long-term requirement for growth and a long-term factor that will make growth sustainable. The Chief Executive of Officer of world class infrastructure building outfit, International Service Group (ISG), Mr Steven Tuinstra gave the advice in a statement issued by its Media Adviser, Moses Owopade, on how the Continent of Africa can move from poverty to surplus by creating employment building infrastructure, coordinate the associated laws, rules and regulations. According to the ISG…

By Adisa Omogbolahan, Ilorin Kwara State is the next state to announce the confirmation of two Coronavirus cases, The Gazelle News.com can report. The confirmation was given on Monday, 6 April, 2020 by the Kwara State Technical Committee on COVID-19. According to a press release by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, “One is the wife of the UITH patient, a UK returnee, who died on Thursday, 2 April, 2020, and the other is another UK returnee. “This statement is issued at 18:33pm, a few minutes after the government received official confirmation of test results from…

By Hassan Sulaimon Eight years after surviving the outbreak of Ebola endemic disease which was brought to its knees, Lagos, again, on February 24th contracted the spread of Corona virus, otherwise known as COVID -19. According to reports, an Italian arrived Nigeria on a Turkish Airline Flight that had a connection in Istanbul. After spending the night in a hotel near the airport, he arrived Ogun State on February 25thand resumed at his place of work. He stayed there until he developed a fever and body ache on the afternoon of February 26th. Health specialists and officers in his…

Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Monday launched the Federal Government’s conditional cash transfer to 25000 households in the state, with beneficiary getting at least N20,000 each. “Today, I flag off the disbursement of conditional cash transfer initiative of the Federal Government to 25,000 households in Kwara. Each benefiting household is to get N20,000 cumulatively for the months of January, February, March and April,” AbdulRazaq said on Monday, well over two weeks since he was last seen in public. “This is to assist the poor in this time of global pandemic when our people are asked to stay at…

In a bid to contain and ultimately eradicate the Coronavirus pandemic in Abuja, the FCT Administration under the leadership of the Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has embarked on several measures. These include scaling up capacity, ensuring compliance to health advisory and ensuring readiness of various actors to tackle COVID-19. Some of the major actions undertaken by the FCT Minister include: 1. Ensuring early tracking of suspected carriers and their contacts; 2. Adequate provision and equipping of new Isolation Centres and expanding the capacity of existing ones; 3. Provision of additional bed space and equipping of the primary isolation…

The Youths and Sports Development Minister, Mr Sunday Dare has urged Nigerian athletes   to keep hope alive on the occasion  of the International  Day of Sports for Development  and Peace despite the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Dare, “On this historic day of the celebration of the United Nations International  Day of  Sports Development and Peace which is celebrated soberly due to the Covid-19 scourge, I urge all our sports men and women   to remain steadfast, strong and  to keep hope alive. As athletes, you remain the beacon of hope to unite Nigerians to commemorate the United Nations International Day…

Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Monday, 6 April, 2020 accused police authorities in Adamawa State of condoning and encouraging crimes against journalists following the failure of the State Police Command to arrest and prosecute men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) who invaded the State secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Jimeta on April 2, 2020 where they brutalized a dozen journalists, illegally arrested and detained them at the SARS detention facility. In a statement in Lagos, MRA gave Police authorities 14 days to arrest and initiate criminal proceedings against the SARS agents involved in the incident,…

BY Abdulwarees Solanke You never know the power of the state and the strength of the law until the rich and the powerful run foul of them. If the rich offends the state or the classy commits an infraction against the government but escapes the law or the state looks at the other way, we call it impunity. When impunity is the culture of a people, the society becomes a lawless one. Everyone lives in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The State is Hobbesian. Might is Right. Life is short and brutish. Only the rich rules. The open streets becomes…

By Adisa Omogbolahan, Ibadan The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde has finally conquered Coronavirus, The Gazelle News.com can report. The Governor has tested negative to the COVID19 virus, hence is out danger and set to return actively to office. The Governor himself announced this on his Twitter handle early Monday, 6 April, 2020. Here is his full tweet: “I am deeply moved by your prayers and support throughout this period. I am so thankful. This evening, I received my second negative test result for COVID-19. I especially thank Prof Temitope Alonge, who acted in my stead as Head of…

By Seye Oladejo, Lagos Our attention has been drawn to the characteristically irresponsible and reckless attempt of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State to play bitter politics with the COVID 19 pandemic. We would ordinarily not have dignified the piece with a response but for the deliberate attempt to disseminate falsehood to the unsuspecting public. It was rather absurd and convenient to dismiss the  well applauded efforts of the Lagos State Government ably led by the Incident Commander , Governor Babajide Sanwoolu-Olu with a wave of the hand and toxic imagination. For all avoidance of doubt, this government…

By Timothy Alao, Osogbo Olowu of Kuta, His Royal Highness Oba Adekunle Oyelude Makama, Tegbosun iii, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari, the Presidential Task Force and Corporate Oragnisations as well as well meaning individuals to assist the Osun State Government to fight the scourge of the Coronavirus pandemic as the cases rise to 14 in the state. Olowu in a statement issued by his Media Office in Kuta on Tuesday said the time has come for wealthy individuals to lend a helping hand to Osun in order to save the state of the COVID-19 starring her in the face. He…

Persons who fail to comply with the restriction of movement and other prohibition order imposed by the Niger State Government shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment or both in accordance with the extant laws. Disclosing this at a media briefing, Secretary to the State Government, SSG and Chairman State Action Committe on COVID-19, Ahmed Ibrahim Matane said the new measure became necessary following the gross disrespect for the appeals and directives on social distancing and social gatherings by the people as the only precautionary measures against the spread of Coronavirus. According to the Committee Chairman, it became imperative…

By Timothy Alao, Osogbo The Governor of the State of Osun, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, has said that the proactive measures taken by the State Government by intercepting the returnees from Ivory Coast and immediately isolating them was for the greater good of other states and the nation at large. He also announced the discharge of one of the cases, saying “on a happy note, it gives me great pleasure to announce that we are discharging one of our earliest cases from one of our facilities here in Osogbo, after testing negative twice in line with the prescribed protocol of the…