Sacked resident doctors in the country have vowed to use every means to fight President Goodluck Jonathan to a standstill, describing their sack as insensitive.
Jonathan had on Thursday sacked over 15,000 resident doctors in all Federal Government hospitals across the nation for embarking on strike while the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, rages on.
President, National Association of Resident Doctors, NARD, Dr. Jubril Abdullahi, who spoke with P.M.NEWS on behalf of his colleagues said the decision of the president to sack all resident doctors was done in bad faith as it would be counter-productive.
He said the doctors were not moved by the decision to sack them, vowing that they would fight on to ensure that the right thing was done by the Federal Government. “This strike is not only about resident doctors, it is about the Nigeria Medical Association, NMA. For the government to have singled out only resident doctors to be sacked is not the right decision. Let them sack all the doctors in Nigeria,” he said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it has become aware of products being sold online that fraudulently claim to prevent or treat Ebola.
The FDA’s warning comes on the heels of comments by Nigeria’s top health official, Onyebuchi Chukwu, who reportedly said earlier Thursday that eight Ebola patients in Lagos will receive an experimental treatment called nano-silver.
Erica Jefferson, a spokeswoman for the FDA, said she could not provide any information about the product referenced by the Nigerians.
The FDA did not specify any products in its warning.
Nigerian politician and former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has countered President Goodluck Jonathan who recently described the late Liberian man – that brought in Ebola to Nigeria – Patrick Sawyer as a mad man.
Fani Kayode took to his official Facebook page some moments ago to share his thoughts on Patrick Sawyer and Ebola.
He wrote: “I disagree with those who have described Patrick Sawyer as a madman. He was not mad at all but just evil. He was a man that was on a mission. That mission was to spread the Ebola virus to Nigeria and to infect and kill as many people as possible with it.
”He was an evil man with an evil intention and purpose. Worst still, he was not working alone. Some people, and I mean rich, powerful and well-connected people, were working with him. As a matter of fact, they sent him on the mission.
... Says His Email Was Hacked
The Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity) Reuben Abati on Friday said he did not send any press release relating to ”President Jonathan Reveals Location Of Chibok Girls And Exposes Boko Haram Masterminds”.
Abati said the press statement making the rounds did not emanate from his office and that his email was hacked.
The Statement reads:
“All media organisations and persons on my mailing list should kindly disregard the press release purportedly issued by me earlier today titled: PRESIDENT JONATHAN REVEALS LOCATION OF CHIBOK GIRLS AND EXPOSES BOKO HARAM MASTERMINDS.
Malaysian police said a bank employee and her husband had been detained over withdrawals of 31,000 dollars from four bank accounts of passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Izany Abdul-Ghany, Chief of Police in the Commercial Crime Investigation Department, said this in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
He said the funds from the accounts of three passengers on the missing airliner were apparently transferred to a fourth account owned by another passenger.
The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday directed the Acting Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to dismantle all “ road blocks ” mounted on nation’s highways for revenue collection, so as to curb the growing incidences of illegal multiple taxation in the country.
NEC also approved the release of N1.3 billion from the Federal Ministry of Power Intervention Fund for financing manpower development and training of 3,700 trainees under the National Power Sector Apprenticeship Scheme (NAPSAS).
The training was necessitated by need to close manpower gap, which existed since 23 years ago, when there had not been structured skills training for the technical manpower that works in generation, transmission and distribution sub-sectors of power.
These formed parts of the major decisions taken by NEC during its yesterday’s monthly meeting, presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa.
LAGOS (AFP) – Kate, Bright and Happiness sat on the lawn of a Lagos brothel, sipping lager and chatting with men in groups of two or four. Business had been good, they said, until Ebola arrived.
“I have been in this business for two years but business has never been this slow,” said Kate.
“I used to have an average of seven customers per day but I can hardly see four now since this Ebola disease came to town,” the 25-year-old told AFP.
“Many of our customers are afraid to come to us for fear of contracting the disease. This Ebola wahala (problem) is really bad business. The government should do something about it.”
Kano State Governor, Alhaji Rabiu Kwankwaso, has disclosed that if the former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, joins the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he will be the biggest loser and a big political mistake.
Kwankwaso said: “Ribadu is widely known as a man of integrity and I can remember that when he was the chairman of EFCC, he did his job very well. My advice to him is not to join the PDP because at the end, he will be the biggest loser.”
Speaking with a panel of journalists in his office yesterday, Kwankwaso said: “Most of those in the PDP were indicted for corruption by him and now they want him to join them; I believe at the end, they will also begin to haunt him.
“If he joins their party, which I believe he cannot make that mistake, but if he joins them, that means all what we are talking about him is wrong. In my opinion it will be a big political mistake.”
ABUJA—THE Presidency yesterday carpeted Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State for accusing President Goodluck Jonathan’s government of being inactive for three years, saying the governor might have been occupied in his state to know the achievements of the administration.
At a briefing in Abuja, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, who admitted that there were some challenges, insisted that the government was giving its best attention to the problems.
Okupe was reacting to comments by Governor Fashola during a lecture at the 50th birthday celebration of former Governor Timipre Sylva.
Fashola was quoted as saying “this government had been inactive for 3 years and in the fourth year intends to give the electorate kerosene, price and money for the purpose of seeking their votes.”
The All Progressives Congress has accused the Department of State Service of partisanship.
The APC, through its National Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said in a statement on Thursday that the members of staff of the organisation, especially its spokesperson, Ms Marilyn Ogar, needed proper education and exposure.
Corroborating its allegation of DSS’ partisanship, the party condemned the selective complaint against its National Publicity Secretary in Osun State during the August 9 election.
It said the outfit deliberately kept quiet on the presence of the Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro , and others in the state during the poll.
The statement reads in part, “How can a spokesperson for such a sensitive government agency not understand that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for freedom of movement?
The dust of the just concluded Osun governorship polls does not seem to be about to ebb, going by the string of accusations not only between political parties, but between political parties and the Department of State Security (DSS).
Yesterday on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, the spokesperson of the DSS, Marylin Ogar , wondered why there was no bomb blasts after the Osun governorship election which was won by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ogar did not specifically or directly accuse the APC of complicity in the bombing, but still wondered why there were bomb blasts in states where other parties apart from the
APC won elections.
Ms Ogar noted that there has been no bombings since the apc won in Edo and Osun elections.
ABUJA — A nurse, Justina Obi Echelonu, one of the primary contacts who participated in the initial management of the index case, late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, at the First Consultant Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, has died in quarantine.
She is the second nurse and fourth fatality of the Ebola Virus Disease in the country.
Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu confirmed her death yesterday at a joint press briefing with the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, in Abuja.
Chukwu, who disclosed that another of the doctors who treated the late Patrick Sawyer tested positive to the deadly virus, said Nigeria has now recorded 10 confirmed cases of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, of which four have died and six are currently under treatment.
“The total number of persons under surveillance in Lagos is now 169. These are all secondary contacts as all the primary contacts have completed the 21-day incubation period and have been de-listed to resume their normal lives,” the Minister explained.
Earlier, a top medical expert who is part of the medical team of experts managing confirmed cases at the Ebola Ward of the Mainland Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, said the nurse passed away in the early hours of yesterday.
An Ebola treatment drug, “Nanosilver” is said to have arrived Nigeria for the treatment of persons infected by the virus. This was disclosed yesterday in Abuja by the Honourable Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu.
Prof. Chukwu, who appeared elated on the development at the daily media briefing on the Ebola virus said: “One good thing is that there will be a new treatment drug for the Ebola. A Nigerian scientist has offered to invest his resources in the supply of the experimental treatment drug-Nanosilver-for the victims. This drug can only be donated by a Nigerian for now.”
He however, confirmed another case of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in Nigeria bringing the total number of infected persons to 11.
National Conference yesterday came to a convivial end as the 492 delegates unanimously adopted all the reports of the Confab, including the proposed amendment to the 1999 Constitution.
The much-anticipated stormy session over the draft constitution was averted by the diplomatic strategy employed by the chairman of the conference, Justice Idris Kutigi, who had several meetings on Wednesday with the zonal leaders.
Controversy had trailed the draft constitution since last month as some of the delegates from the North alleged that it was a ploy to extend the tenure of President Goodluck Jonathan and the 36 state governors.
Relatives and associates of the female medical doctor and other health workers who contracted the Ebola Virus Disease from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, share the gloomy experiences of the victims
“Go there yourself and witness firsthand the condition under which they are being taken care of,” Dr. Helen Boyo-Ekwueme charged at one of the journalists inquiring about the welfare of the health workers battling with Ebola, at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Yaba, Lagos.
The atmosphere was tense. Relatives and professional colleagues of the female medical doctor and other health workers, who contracted the disease from the late Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, had gathered to brief journalists at a press conference which held in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Nigeria Defence Headquarters has announced on Thursday the interception by its troops of 51 young men travelling in three 18-seater buses from Maiduguri in Borno State to Abuja.
The DHQ said the officers of the Special Task Force were investigating the motive for the movement of the youths, adding that the youths claiming to be travelling under the directive of a government official in Borno.
No government official has yet confirmed the claim, the military said.
According to the post made on its website, the Nigerian military authorities stated that the transportation of the youths occurred around 3 a.m. when they were stopped in Plateau state.
State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN, on Thursday faulted President Goodluck Jonathan, for inviting parents of abducted Chibok schoolgirls to the Presidential Villa for the purpose of sympathising with them.
He described the development as lack of empathy, saying Jonathan’s leadership style “has re-defined empathy by inviting the bereaved parents to the presidential villa for commiseration.”
Fashola stated this in Abuja while delivering a lecture on ‘The challenge of Democratic Governance’ as part of activities to mark the 50th birthday celebration of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva.
He insisted that Jonathan’s attitude was “Truly strange and Truly unAfrican”
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