Author: Chronicle Editor

The National Guard and US Army have been deployed in numerous cities across the United States on a seventh night of protests against police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Public buildings have been torched, police vehicles have been firebombed and at least two people have been killed in shootings amid the chaos over the past week. Dozens of cities, including Washington DC and New York City, are under curfew as the violence continues. President Donald Trump said he wanted military and law enforcement to “dominate the streets” and labelled state governors “weak” over what he claimed was…

Nigeria music legend, singer, songwriter and guitarist, Majekodunmi Fasheke popularly known as Majek Fashek is dead. According to reports, the Send Down the Rain star, aged 57 died in a hospital in New York on Monday June 1. Sources close to the internationally recognised reggae star did not confirm the cause of his death at the time of this report. Born in Benin City to an Edo mother and a Ijesha father, Majek Fashek identified more with his Benin roots. He however sang in English language, Pidgin English and Yoruba language the local dialect of his father. In the early…

President Donald Trump has threatened to send in the military to quell growing civil unrest in the US over the death of a black man in police custody. He said if cities and states failed to control the protests and “defend their residents” he would deploy the army and “quickly solve the problem for them”. Protests over the death of George Floyd are entering their seventh day. As Mr Trump spoke at the White House, police cleared protesters from a nearby park with tear gas and rubber bullets. The president then crossed the park and posed next to a damaged…

Emma Agu In my early days as editor, one day, as I agonised openly over what I had considered was a misreading of my intentions leading, at times, to hostility towards me, my colleague Tony Nzotta, asked me to come over to the newsroom. Nzotta had a penchant for the dramatic. Once we got to the door of the newsroom, he stopped abruptly, halting me in the process. He then re-enacted what he described, was the action of a one-time editor of the New York Times who, faced with similar predicament, had gone to the entrance to the newsroom and,…

Justice Ibrahim Watilat of the Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Monday slammed three months custodial sentence on two fraudsters – Owolabi Aderibigbe and Habeeb Popoola Kareem. The duo were found guilty of impersonation in a lone-count charge separately filed against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Ibadan zonal office. They had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge in line with the conditions of plea bargain arrangement struck with the Commission. The court also ordered that two other suspects be remanded in the custody of the EFCC’s Ibadan zonal office till Tuesday, June 2,…

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced 416 confirmed new coronavirus cases in the country on Monday. The 416 cases announced by the Centre for Disease Control takes the total number of confirmed cases to 10578. The NCDC also announced the discharge of 115 patients from isolation centers across the country with 12 new deaths reported. Lagos state, the epicentre of the virus in Nigeria topped the number of confirmed cases with 192 new cases taking the total number of confirmed cases in Lagos alone to 5135. Nigeria announces 307 new coronavirus cases Edo state reported 41 new…

Facebook staff have spoken out against the tech giant’s decision not to remove or flag a controversial post by US President Donald Trump last week. Mr Trump took to Facebook to repeat a tweet about the widespread protests in Minneapolis, following the death of George Floyd in police custody. Twitter had placed a warning over the content, which it said “glorified violence”, but Facebook said it did not violate its company policy. Some staff said they were ‘ashamed’. The president said he would “send in the National Guard”, and warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The post remains untouched…

Nigerian economists, along with business, policy and political leaders have advised the Federal Government to consider massive investment in girl education, increase the capacity of revenue collection agencies, formalise the informal sector and improve the production capacity of Nigerians in order to unlock mass prosperity. These were some of the major takeaways from the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola Colloquium 2020, which held via Zoom on Saturday 30th May, with the theme “Government Unusual: Innovative Economic Solutions to Unlock Mass Prosperity.” Some of the panelists included respected economist, Bismark Rewane; Chairman of Citibank Nigeria, Yemi Cardoso; Statistician General of the National Bureau…

A federal high court in Abuja has issued an interim order stopping Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo state from arresting and prosecuting Adams Oshiomhole, national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Obaseki had in January set up a panel to probe the construction of the Edo specialist hospital and supply of equipment for the hospital. In May, the commission led by James Oyomire had indicted Oshiomhole for breach of the state’s public procurement law while he was governor of the state. The commission recommended the arrest and prosecution of the national chairman. Oshiomhole in an ex parte application filed…

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 led by Boss Mustapha has announced the relaxation of nationwide curfew imposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to curb spread of coronavirus. At a new briefing on Monday, the PTF said although the nationwide curfew will remain, there has been adjustment to the curfew. The timing now has been readjusted from 10pm to 4am as the country continues to gradually reopen its economy. The PTF also announced full opening of financial sector. They are expected to operate normal working hours. The reopening of places of worship, (regular church and mosque services only), to be based…