PORT HARCOURT: Official Confirms Ebola Death

A highly placed official of the Rivers state Government has confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that a suspected case of the Ebola Virus Disease has been detected in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.

The official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the development with journalists, simply said, “Yes, there was a case of Ebola death. We are tracking everybody.”

Seventy people suspected to have had contact with the case have been tracked and quarantined, the official said.

The official spoke to this newspaper following reports that a doctor in the Rivers state capital had died from what appeared to be Ebola.

The Rivers state Commissioner for Information, Ibim Semenitari, could not be reached for comments last night as she was said to be outside the country.

The unnamed doctor, according to news website, Sahara Reporters, secretly treated a diplomat who had contact with Patrick Sawyer, the Liberian-American, who brought the virus to Nigeria.

The doctor reportedly died on Friday, while his wife had also taken ill and now quarantined in Port Harcourt.

The diplomat treated by the doctor is still alive, the report said.

The diplomat is believed to be among those who met Mr. Sawyer on his arrival in Lagos. He then flew to Port Harcourt where he took ill.

He was treated at an unnamed hotel in the Rivers state capital, an official said.

The doctor’s hospital, Good Heart Hospital, as well as the hotel where he treated the diplomat, have been shut down, reports say.

This development, if confirmed will be a big blow to Nigeria’s effort to contain the deadly virus.

With only one case being treated in Lagos, the Minister of Health had declared Tuesday that Nigeria had succeeded in checkmating the spread of the virus in the country.

“Ebola has been curtailed,” an excited Mr. Chukwu said with glee on Tuesday. “All 129 people under surveillance have completed the 21-day observation period and only a person is symptomatic and is being observed.”

However on Wednesday, the minister became a bit measured in his celebration, downgrading his earlier message of euphoria to that of cautious optimism.

He hinted that it was still early for Nigeria to claim to be free of the Ebola Virus Disease.

Mr. Chukwu said Nigeria was still at risk of the Ebola virus despite having only one confirmed case.

Saying the country had only succeeded in taming the virus, the minister said between one to three new cases might surface from people currently under surveillance.

“I don’t want us to move from panic to euphoria which may be a problem,” the minister said. “Nigeria is doing well on containment, all the disease in Nigeria were all traced to Patrick Sawyer. We have not eliminated the disease because we still have a case we are managing which may have had a third party contact. As long as there is a case of ebola disease, Nigeria is still at risk. So we have done well on containment but the problem is not over.”

He said Nigeria remained at risk of Ebola and that that would only change “when the very last case of Ebola virus disease under this current epidemic has gone”.

“As we speak, there is a case we are still managing. And even that case we are still managing must also have had her own third degree contacts, many of whom are part of this number of people that are under surveillance. “So until we give a clean bill of health to every contact, we cannot even say we have eliminated the disease,” Mr. Chukwu said.

It is not clear whether the minister had a hint of the development in Rivers when he spoke on Wednesday.

Source: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/167383-rivers-official-confirms-suspected-ebola-death-in-port-harcourt.html

Boko Haram Militants Chasing Soldiers

Many Nigerians have expressed shock & anger after watching the dramatic take over of Gwoza town by Boko Haram extremists, all recorded by Boko Haram cameraman.

This video captured Nigerian Soldiers running on top of the hill, one of the soldiers fell down in his desperate bid to escape being killed.

Also, a very tired man with arms wearing a Nigerian Military Uniform was seen limping. These Soldiers from all account may have been killed by Boko Haram extremists.

While this drama was going on, the Nigerian honorable Minister of information was seen yesterday saying that no part of Nigeria has fallen into the hands of this terror group called -Boko Haram!

 

Boko Haram insurgents are actually fighting like trained soldiers. They have sophisticated fighting gears, above all, this deadly group appears more organized and well funded.

Who is actually providing them with these modern fighting weapons?

Nigerian Army must do more to flush Boko Haram out. Right now, Goodluck Jonathan and his advisers are grappling with fries!

Watch the video below.

Source: Nigerian FM

Photos: GEJ leads other dignitaries to late Prof. Akunyili’s Requiem Mass - See more at: http://www.nollywoodmagazine.com/2014/08/photos-gej-leads-other-dignitaries-to-late-prof-akunyilis-requiem-mass.html?fb_action_ids=683309521738807&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard#sthash.XVHYeGsr.dpuf

Here are photos from the Requiem Mass at Pro-Cathedral Catholic Church, Garki Abuja held in honor of late Prof Dora Akunyili this morning. President Jonathan, Dame Patience Jonathan, many government officials and prominent personalities were in attendance. I screened grabbed from the TV so pardon the quality..:-). See more photos after the cut…

  

- See more at: http://www.nollywoodmagazine.com/2014/08/photos-gej-leads-other-dignitaries-to-late-prof-akunyilis-requiem-mass.html?fb_action_ids=683309521738807&fb_action_types=news.publishes&fb_ref=pub-standard#sthash.XVHYeGsr.dpuf

Libya seeks help to protect oilfields, airports

Libya wants the international community to help protect its oilfields, airports and other state assets as it is too weak to stop armed groups fighting for control, its ambassador in Cairo said on Monday.

The plea came as attackers fired Grad rockets at Labraq airport in eastern Libya, targeting one of the country’s few functioning air hubs as violence between armed factions escalates three years after the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi, Reuters reports.

Western powers and Libya’s neighbors fear the OPEC producer will become a failed state or slide into civil war after former rebels who helped topple strongman Gaddafi in 2011 have turned their guns on each other.

Rival factions have turned the capital Tripoli and the main eastern city Benghazi into battlegrounds, forcing the United Nations and embassies to evacuate their staff and citizens.

Senior officials and a freshly-elected parliament have relocated to Tobruk in the far east to escape the violence.

“There are forms of international intervention (possible) particularly since Libya is unable to protect its institutions, its airports and natural resources, especially the oilfields,” Ambassador Mohamed Jibril said on the sidelines of a meeting of Libya’s neighbors in Cairo.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri told the meeting Libya needed a ceasefire of all armed factions and a national dialogue to overcome its deep divisions.

The appeal for foreign aid came as unknown attackers used a Grad multiple rocket launcher to attack Labraq airport, its director Abu Bakr al-Abidi said. The airport was still operating.

Labraq, east of Benghazi, has become a major gateway into Libya since Egypt and Tunisia canceled almost all flights to the capital Tripoli and the west of the country last week, citing security reasons.

Tunis Air suspended flights to Labraq and Tobruk in the far east on Sunday, Libyan officials said. It was one of the last foreign airlines still flying to Libya after rival factions turned Tripoli International Airport into a battlefield last month.

I won’t apologise to defectors, says Oshiomhole

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole

Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Monday said that he would not apologise to former members of the All Progressives Congress in the state who defected to an opposition party.

Oshiomhole, who made this known at the presentation of staff of office to Alhaji Jackson Etokhana as the Oghieavhianwu of Avhianwu, stated that he “will never share the state’s resources, meant for developing the state, to them.”

He added, “So, those who defect because I do not put money in their pockets, let them continue to defect; no apology. Everybody will be remembered when they write the history of politics in Afemai land.”

The governor stressed the need for traditional rulers to educate their subjects on ways to distinguish and support only politicians who stood for the interest of the people, rather than personal interest.

He also urged the electorate to be mindful of politicians who were out to capitalise on the plight of the people to perpetrate their selfish intentions.

Oshiomhole said, “We must use every opportunity to educate our people. This afternoon, your Royal Highnesses, I am not asking you to go and carry party cards. I only ask you and your chiefs to educate our people to distinguish politicians, who will stand only when it is good for their family, not when it is good for the larger community.

“I want it to be said that when I left office, our people started distinguishing thieves from real politicians. Our people must learn to begin to interrogate all manners of political miscreants, who come wanting to cash in on the poverty of our people. I always say that to be poor is not to be crazy. So, we must be clear.

“Those who called for Afemai Agenda believing that when an Afemai man becomes the governor, he will carry state money and share to them. And once they do not get it, they abandon Afemai Agenda and now they have turned only to the agenda of their stomach infrastructure.

“You will always be governed by politicians, whether you like it or not, but you must carefully select your politicians on the basis of those who understand that state power is not for the private comfort of those around the state operators.”

Oshiomhole assured traditional rulers in the state that his administration would “never interfere with traditional matters.”

The governor, who said that he would not “sponsor anybody to write a petition against any royal father,” stressed that fictitious petitions would be dismissed.

He assured the newly installed royal father, Alhaji Jackson Etokhana, as well as the entire people of Avhianwu Clan, of government’s continuous support in the provision of infrastructural facilities to the community.

Source: Punch News