Pep Opara's Blog

*Q&A: How does the 14-day lockdown affect me?* President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday night announced a total lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and federal capital territory (FCT) for a period of 14 days as part of measures to check the spread of the COVID-19 in the country. A lot of people might need clarification on how this order will affect them. *Q: I run a barbing salon and my friend is a vulcanizer. Can we open during the lockdown?* A: The answer is no. All businesses and offices not classified as “essential” will be fully closed during lockdown. *Q: Thank God. In that case, my niece can open her shop. She sells rice and turkey and that should certainly be treated as essential.* A: That’s right. All involved in food processing, distribution and retail are exempted. After all, we will all be dead without food for two weeks. *Q: Eateries and bakeries will open in that case?* A: Yes. They are part of the food processing and retail chain. *Q: Does that mean Shoprite wh

ADDRESS BY H.E. MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA ON THE COVID- 19 PANDEMIC SUNDAY 29TH MARCH, 2020 1. Fellow Nigerians, 2. From the first signs that Coronavirus, or COVID-19 was turning into an epidemic and was officially declared a world-wide emergency, the Federal Government started planning preventive, containment and curative measures in the event the disease hits Nigeria. 3. The whole instruments of government are now mobilized to confront what has now become both a health emergency and an economic crisis. 4. Nigeria, unfortunately, confirmed its first case on 27th February 2020. Since then, we have seen the number of confirmed cases rise slowly. 5. By the morning of March 29th, 2020, the total confirmed cases within Nigeria had risen to ninety-seven. 6. Regrettably, we also had our first fatality, a former employee of PPMC, who died on 23rd March 2020. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family in this very difficult time. We also

As case of the nasty corona virus climbs up across the globe, in all these, if doubters ever accepted that the world isn't one small village the Corona virus aka Convid-19 or Wuhan Virus as it was first called and noted as a global pandemic by World Health Organisation is an undebatable proof that the world is a global village.  So scary is it that many I suppose, I inclusive get twice a day calls from mum or relatives. Conversation with mum goes like this, "Chiko, `kedu` How are you? Are you following the news on Corona? how's my baby? hope you are indoors? Don't go out, wash your hands always,  chukwu go umu gi ..God spare your faithful children. This is end time. End time sickness!  God is angry with the world and used the bat and cockroach eating Ndi Chinese gbasaa nje na ụwa.. spread virus in the world. Be prayerful. Read Psalm 91 inugo`." You all Nigerians and Africans out there can relate and know how dramatic African mums are. 

WhatsApp and Instagram are to be integrated with Facebook Messenger, it has been revealed. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently wants to combine the services under a single underlying messaging platform or protocol. The idea is to allow users communicate across the three services more easily, with the project set to complete by the end of this year or early next, according to  The New York Times . According to reports, the new unified backend will support the end-to-end encryption needed to stop messages being viewed by third parties. In theory, this means all three platforms should be more secure, but in reality, there are doubts. For this reason, the news has not been well received by many users. People are already leaving Facebook in droves and with good reason: The social networking giant has been hacked and suffered data leaks several times over the last year. As part of this, the messaging app was possibly affected seeing users’ private conversations exposed t

The Media and social media is frenzy and buzzing to a great news! Well i am also excited to hear such great news. Queen of England would welcome another great grand child in May...It could be a ginger hair baby 😃 Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby, it was announced Monday by Kensington Palace. Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are very pleased to be expecting their first child in spring 2019.  Spring royal baby will become the seventh in line to the British crown. The pair broke the news to Queen Elizabeth II and other senior members of the royal family, including princes Charles and William, last Friday as the royals gathered for the wedding of Princess Eugenie (Prince Andrew’s daughter) and James Brooksbank, which was also held at Windsor Castle. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle marrired on May 19 in a historic and lavish wedding ceremony at Windsor Castle which was watched by millions of viewers around the world. The baby will follow its father, Prince Harry in the lin

The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) is setting up a special channel for receiving complaints from DSTV and GOTV subscribers who have been unable to renew their subscription at their bouquet prevailing price as at July 31, 2018. The CPC noted that the above measure become necessary following Multichoice’s deliberate disobedience of court order restraining them from increasing their subscription rate or prices, pending the determination of an application before the court. In a statement issued by the DG of CPC Mr. Babatunde Irukera, consumers experiencing the above challenges are advised to send an email to  multichoicecompliance@cpc.gov.ng , stating relevant information, including smart card number, name, telephone number, date and time of failed attempt to pay, supporting same with relevant evidence such as a screenshot or document (where necessary). The statement reads: “It has come to the attention of the Consumer Protection Council that customers of MultiChoice N

A three-storey shopping complex under construction in the Jabi area of Abuja has collapsed killing, one person and leaving about 50 others trapped. Emergency workers are battling to rescue of of the survivors of the incidents. The incident occurred around 1:30pm. A source said children and food hawkers were among those trapped in the building.

Max Lomas, the friend who discovered Bobbi Kristina Brown unconscious in her bathtub in 2015, after an overdose, has reportedly died of an apparent drug overdose. TMZ reports that Lomas was rushed to the hospital after he was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor at a friend’s house in Mississippi on Wednesday, August 15. Along with Bobbi Kristina’s then-boyfriend Nick Gordon, Lomas found Bobbi Kristina unresponsive in her tub in January 2015. . The daughter of the late Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown was subsequently hospitalized and placed in a medically induced coma. She died six months later in July at the age of 21. Back in February 2012, Houston was also found dead in her bathtub at the Beverly Hills hotel. She was 48 years old.

A 22-year-old man, Yusuf Hassan, has been apprehended for chopping off the hand of his friend, Abubakar Umar, with a machete, during a fight over one Habiba, on Wednesday, in Dakwa, Abuja. Dailytrust quoted Umar as saying Habiba had relocated with her parents from Kaduna, some months ago, and that before they could get a room to rent, he gave his room to them as a temporary shelter and relocated to his friend’s room. “My friend, Yusuf, started developing interest in the lady. However he suspected me of also having same feeling for her, which is not true. . That was how I started having problem with him to the extent that he once warned me that it could be the reason for him to terminate my life. The family got another place and I eventually returned to my room,” he added. . However, on Wednesday, Yusuf attacked Umar with a machete, but as he (Umar) attempted to dodge it, it hit his hand and cut it off. The Zuba Divisional Police Officer, CSP Fodio Sani, confirmed the incid

Lady in tears after her soldier boyfriend proposed to her, yesterday, at the Faculty of Law, Bayero University, Kano

A video has emerged of a man identified as Stanley, beating one Boma, a friend to his girlfriend, Anita, for allegedly slandering him. The incident happened, this morning, along Aba road, Port harcourt, Rivers State. According to reports, Stanley had told Anita that he has a white collar job, however, Boma, was said to have put a lie to the claim by telling Anita that her boyfriend is a yahoo boy. Angered by the claim, Stanley confronted Boma, today, and assaulted her. Source: Instablog9ja

A Kenyan bus preacher recently lost his cool after one of the passengers gave him Ksh.1 as offering. . According to CitizenTV, bus preachers are common in the country and at the end of their sermon, they usually turn to passengers to ask for offerings to help them spread the Word even further. However, in a video shared by a Twitter user, Brian Mutinda, one preacher lost it and can be heard lecturing the passengers, wondering how one “can give a man of God who will bury you, such money.” “Can you give this to your child? You can’t. How come you can give me, a man of God?” the agitated preacher asks a passenger. He then went ahead to label the offering “satanic.” “It’s satanic, evil-minded, you cannot give something like this. Even if you find it inside the bus, you can’t pick,” he vented.

PhD students of the Department of Mass Communication at the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (formerly Anambra State University), were shocked, yesterday, when their lecturer walked into the class, dressed like a lady. According to Massmediang, the lecturer was to teach a topic on “Culture shock and gender issues,” hence his dressing. It was gathered that the students were visibly uncomfortable with his appearance and one of them even wanted to walk out of the class. The lecturer observed the initial reactions of the students before proceeding with the lecture.

World’s Football governing body, FIFA have turned down a proposed visit by a Nigerian delegation, led by the Minister for Sports, Solomon Dalung, in a bid to discuss the ongoing leadership tussle rocking the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). Nigeria is in a race against time to avoid a worldwide ban from football after FIFA gave Nigeria until Monday, August 20, 2018 to handover the administration and offices of the Football Federation to Amaju Pinnick and his Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi. In a bid to circumvent FIFA’s judgment, Dalung wrote to FIFA on Wednesday, August 15, through the office of the Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland, seeking to meet with the FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, alongside members of his reconciliatory committee and Chris Giwa, head of the other faction. However, FIFA, in a swift reply to Dalung’s request, signed by its Secretary General, Fatma Samoura, rejected the idea while reiterating the stance of the Bureau Council of FIFA to ban Nigeria on

                     The Presidency, on Monday, confirmed that Acting President Yemi Osinbajo remains the choice of President Muhammadu Buhari as his running mate for the 2019 presidential election. Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said this in an interview with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The presidential spokesman said the victories recorded by the ruling All Progressives Congress in legislative elections held in three states over the weekend were indications that victory is certain for the Buhari/Osinbajo presidential ticket in 2019.

The Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Haruna Isah, has been declared winner of the Lokoja/Kogi House of Representatives by-election held on Aug.11. The Returning Officer, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi, who announced the results on Sunday in Lokoja, said Isah polled 26, 860 votes to defeat Alhaji Bashir Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 14, 845 votes. Ajayi said that Ahmed Imam of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) scored 2, 916 votes, while the candidates of the Accord Party and Alternative Democratic Congress (ADC) scored 149 votes and 2,984 votes, respectively. The Labour Party scored 90 votes; Democratic Alternative scored 159 votes; while Megga Party of Nigeria scored 50 votes, Ajayi stated. He said that 19,960 votes from 17 polling units were cancelled due to violence and other malpractices, saying that 15 of the affected polling units were in Lokoja Local Government Area, while two were from Kogi Local Government Area. Givi

A 47-year-old Mrs. Veronica Iorshe, from Howe, Ugee Council Ward, Gwer East Local Government Area of Benue State has revealed how she slept with her own biological son and eventually took in for him. Mrs. Iorshe said she slept with her son just to save her marriage. Recalling how she was able to lure her son to perform the incestuous act with her, the woman told Vanguard, “I am not a loose woman. I am just a woman who loves her husband very much and didn’t want to lose him. “I did what I did to save my marriage, though I feel guilty about it. It was not easy but I slept with my first son from my first husband so that I could give my husband a child. But rather than sustaining my marriage, the plan has scattered it and I have lost it. “I got married to my husband eight years ago. We had no child. The worst was that I never got pregnant even for one day. When I discovered that I was no longer getting younger, I was worried as much as he and his parents were. His mother became

Maryam Sanda, who was charged with the murder of her husband in Abuja last November, has reportedly given birth to a baby boy. Excerpt from Yabaleftonline says the Abuja-based woman allegedly stabbed her husband, Bilyamin Bello, in the chest, neck and genital area, over alleged infidelity. He died from his injuries. Maryam, who was nursing a daughter she had with Bilyamin at the time, was also pregnant with a son. She was taken into custody after the death of Bilyamin but was granted bail in March 2018 after the court received medical reports confirming her pregnancy and illness. Maryam, who is the daughter of Maimuna Aliyu, the former Executive Director of Aso Savings and Loans Limited, has now welcomed the son, according to Sahara Reporters, and a low-key naming ceremony will hold on Tuesday August 14, 2018.

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Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has written a letter to the Acting Director-General, Department of State Security, DSS, Mathew Seiyefa, to as a matter of urgency release the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, the Shiite leader, Sheik Ibraheem El-zakzaky and his wife, Hajia Zeinab El-zakzaky and hundreds of others illegally being detained by the DSS. Falana, while congratulating the new DSS boss on his appointment, said the former sacked DSS DG, Lawal Daura committed lots of atrocities as innocent people were detained for years and months without trial and that even when such people were ordered to be released by the court, he would flout the order.” “We are, however, compelled to draw your attention to the fact that our law firm has had a running battle for the last three years with Mr. Musa Daura, the immediate past Director-General of the SSS as a result of the incessant arrest and detention of Nigerian citizens and foreigners without trial. Some