Author: straightnewsng.com

As a farewell gift, President Donald Trump has pardoned 73 persons and commuted the sentences of 70 additional individuals. In an official White House statement released late Tuesday night, Trump pardoned his former Chief Strategist, Steve Bannon, as part of a last-minute clemency spree. Also pardoned were Lil Wayne, Kodak Black and 69 others early Wednesday, just hours before president-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony. Bannon was arrested in the summer and is accused of defrauding people who donated to a campaign to privately build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico. He pleaded not guilty and was released on…

The Nigerian and Ondo State governments have taunted each other over a seven-day ultimatum given to unregistered Fulani herdsmen to leave Ondo Forests. President Muhammadu Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu had condemned the directive by the Ondo State government and lampooned the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, being a senior lawyer of the constitutional consequences of asking the people to leave his state. However, the Ondo State Government has declared that the presidency is emotionally attached to Fulani herdsmen. In a statement made available to journalists, Donald Ojogo, Ondo State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, insisted that…

US President-elect Joe Biden and vice President-elect Kamala Harris have paid homage to more than 400,000 Americans who died of COVID-19 from March 2019 to November 19, 2020. The Presidential team was received by Catholic Bishop of Washington D.C., Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the first African American to be raised to the Cardinalate in US history. The Catholic Prelate opened the brief ceremony with an invocation for Gods guidance of the New Biden-Harris team and for healing and for the unity of the American nation. After this, the President-elect Mr. Biden gave a brief address honoring the memory of all COVID-19 victims.…

Nigeria, Tuesday, recorded 1,301 new COVID-19 cases in the country, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. In its official Twitter handle, NCDC confirming the figure said Lagos, FCT and Oyo top the list with 551, 209 and 83 cases, respectively. This is as Nigeria recorded 15 additional deaths in the last 24 hours. Nigeria has now recorded 113,305 COVID-19 cases and 1,464 deaths officially. NCDC tweeted: 1,301 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria; Lagos-551 FCT-209 Oyo-83 Plateau-65 Kaduna-64 Enugu-61 Rivers-44 Ondo-39 Benue-37 Akwa Ibom-31 Kano-19 Delta-18 Gombe-18 Ogun-16 Edo-15 Kebbi-10 Ebonyi-9 Jigawa-4 Osun-3 Zamfara-3 Borno-1 Nasarawa-1 113,305 confirmed 91,200 discharged…

Telecom operators have submitted 43 million National Identity Number (NIN) to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for verification, in order to have them registered with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). This is as the Telecommunication companies said that they won’t block SIMs with unlinked submitted NINs as the deadline for the integration of NIN with SIM ends today, January 19, 2021. This was made known by the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke on behalf of the telecom firms. According to Punch, the NIMC provided about 45 million NINs,…

The Nigerian Presidency has described as unconstitutional the quit notice ultimatum by Ondo State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu to herders to vacate the forests in the state following growing insecurity allegedly perpetrated by the pastoralists. It expressed concern that the governor, as a legal luminary, could unilaterally issue the quit order without taking cognizance of the constitution that guarantees the rights of citizens to movement and to live in any part of the country. A statement by President Muhammadu Buhari’s media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu on Tuesday said the governor ought not to have taken the unilateral step without consulting…

Akwa Ibom Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has officially confirmed the demise of its Chairman, Obong Udo Ekpenyong. The party quoted the deceased’s physicians as saying that he died in the early hours of Tuesday, January 19, 2021, from complications traceable to the novel COVID-19 virus. A statement signed by the the PDP’s Publicity Secretary, Borono Bassey said the party is saddened by his demise. The statement recalled, “Obong Udo Ekpenyong who assumed office as the 6th State Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Akwa Ibom State was the immediate past Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs,…

The Blues have now won just two of their last eight league games to fall to eighth, nine points behind the leaders. Chelsea were expected to challenge for the title after a £220 million ($298 million) spending spree in the transfer market. But it is Leicester who are threatening to recreate their heroics of the 2015/16 season when they shocked the world to win the Premier League. A second title in five years would be less of a surprise, despite the financial gulf between the Foxes and the traditional top six in the English top-flight, as they have established themselves…

US President-elect, Joe Biden, Tuesday, gave an emotional farewell to Delaware as he departed for Washington. He remembered his son Beau and told supporters, “We should be introducing him as President.” In 2015, his son Joseph “Beau” Biden III, an Iraq war veteran who had served as Delaware’s attorney general, died from brain cancer at age 46. Biden plans to sign dozens of executive orders and send sweeping bills to Congress in his first days in office. He is expected to roll back some of Donald Trump’s signature policies on immigration and climate change while taking action to ramp up…

Violent attacks claimed 348 lives across Nigeria in December 2020, Nigeria Mourns has alleged in its report. In the report entitled “Violent Incidents Report: December 2020,” the a Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, also alleged that a 411 people were kidnapped in December last year. Among those killed, were 315 were civilians while 33 were security operatives. The NGO which said it used newspaper reports and family sources to track violent killings, gave the casualty figures for each of the 27 states as follows; Borno – 70, Kaduna – 64, Niger – 26. Others were Katsina – 24, Ogun – 23, Zamfara – 19, Benue – 17,…