THE RESTORATION OF BIAFRA NATION

  The United States Mission in Nigeria has said it will prioritise visa applications for students who hope to resume academic studies in the states by September 2021. This was contained in a statement signed by the US Mission Country Consular Coordinator, Susan Tuller and released by Temitayo Famutimi of the Public Affairs Section of the US Consulate General on Friday. The statement said the Mission said it would prioritise visa interview appointments for Nigerian students in advance of their programme start date. “As we continue to prioritize the health and safety of our staff and customers, processing student visas remains a high priority for the US Mission in Nigeria. “We will increase the number of student visa appointments in May and June to ensure that we can offer appointments to as many students as possible. “ If your US studies are scheduled to begin this Fall, we encourage you to schedule your appointment as quickly as possible,” Tuller was quoted as sa...

  The presidency has alleged that the Spiritual Director of the Adoration Ministry (AMEN), Ejike Mbaka had visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the States House seeking for contract. Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made the allegation on Friday.  reports that the allegation followed the clergy’s call for the President to resign for failing to address the deteriorating security situation across the country According to Shehu, Mbaka once brought three contractors to the President and insisted he must be rewarded for his support to the President. However, Buhari informed him that due process must be followed. Shehu said: “Father Mbaka is everything apart form what he claims to be… an outsider distilling the avalanche of verbiage will be surprised that after supporting the President two times to win the Presidency, Father Mbaka has made a complete U-Turn, preposterously asking President Buhari to resign or be impeach...

  The IPOB said this in reaction to threat by the herders' group that they would avenge the death of every herdsman killed in the South-East. The Indigenous People of Biafra says members of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore will meet their demise if they attempt to hurt any Nigerian of Igbo extraction in the country. While speaking through a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, the Nnamdi Kanu-led group said the Miyetti Allah will lose if it tries to carry out its threat.  The IPOB said this in reaction to threat by the herders' group that they would avenge the death of every herdsman killed in the South-East. SaharaReporters had earlier reported how the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore vowed to take both legal and cultural actions in avenging the killing of its 50 members, it said had died in the hands of the IPOB in the last one month.   Spokesman for the group, Saleh Alhassan, disclosed this while reacting to the killing of one of the commanders of Indigenous Pe...

Miyetti Allah spokesman lauded the security agencies, adding that they should “intensify efforts” in dealing with all terrorist elements in the country.   One of the umbrella bodies of herdsmen in Nigeria, the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, has urged security agencies to deal with “terrorists killing” Fulani herders in the South-East. Spokesman for the group, Saleh Alhassan, disclosed this while reacting to the killing of one of the commanders of Indigenous People of Biafra gunned down by security operatives last Saturday. Police operatives and their counterparts from the Nigerian Army and Department of State Services had killed an IPOB leader, one Commander Ikonso and six other militia members in Imo state. The IPOB men, who were members of the secessionist group’s security arm, the Eastern Security Network, were killed during an early morning raid on their hideout at Awomama village, Oru East Local Government Area of the state last week. IPOB has since threatene...

  The coalition, in a statement titled ‘State of the Nation: A Call to Action’ and signed by all 44 members, on Thursday, decried how the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had ignored its demand that it should provide good leadership amid the growing insecurity and other crises in the country. he Civil Society Joint Action Coalition, a coalition of 44 civil rights groups, has vowed to shut down the country from Monday, May 26, 2021 along with other anti-government actions scheduled to express their displeasure with the state of Nigeria. The coalition, in a statement titled ‘State of the Nation: A Call to Action’ and signed by all 44 members, on Thursday, decried how the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government had ignored its demand that it should provide good leadership amid the growing insecurity and other crises in the country. It said, “We are appalled to note that in spite of our strongly worded statement, President Buhari’s government has fai...

  The case of Baba Ijesha defiling a teenager has gotten the attention of Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa. In the past few days, heated arguments have ensued between entertainers in Nigeria as they expressed divergent views on the matter. While some appeared sympathetic to Baba Ijesha’s plight, others are drumming support in the fight for justice for the defiled minor. Dabiri-Erewa in a thread on Twitter described the act by Baba Ijesha as despicable. She demanded support for the victim’s foster mother, Princess, noting that his plea should not be accepted and that maximum sentence must be passed on him. Her tweet read: “ So despicable! The act by Yoruba actor, Baba Ijesha who defied a girl, at 7 and later at 14 years!! Who knows how many the paedophile could have damaged if he was not caught. I sponsored the violence against person’s law. The penalty is nothing less than 14 years in prison. “His plea bargain on some ...

  The proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra of Biafra (IPOB) has accused the military and security operatives of allegedly killing innocent Biafrans in Essien Udim Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom and some parts of Benue states. It said the army had claimed their victims were the phenomenal unknown gunmen behind the spate of attacks against security formations in the region.   In a statement from the Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, IPOB said the action had exposed the military’s hypocrisy and their backers within the Foreign and Commonwealth office in London.   The statement partly reads: “We, the Indigenous People of Biafra of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to bring to the attention of the world how Nigeria government and her security operatives are massacring innocent Biafrans in Essien Udim Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State.   “In February, it was Orlu in Imo State where civilians were massac...

  While Nigeria’s security agencies claimed Ikonso was killed in a gun battle at ESN camp, the IPOB said he was murdered in his father’s camp while sleeping.   The Indigenous People of Biafra has demanded that the Imo State Government House should be named after the Eastern Security Network commander, Ikonso killed by the security operatives on Saturday. The group stated further that Douglas Road and Awomamma Junction where the joint operation that brought an end to his life happened should be named after him.   Ikonso and other six members of the ESN were killed by the operatives of the Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police and the State Security Service on Saturday, though there have been conflicting accounts of how he was killed.  While Nigeria’s security agencies claimed Ikonso was killed in a gun battle at ESN camp, the IPOB said he was murdered in his father’s camp while sleeping. The IPOB, through a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful on ...

  The catastrophe unfolding in India appears to be the worst-case scenario that many feared from the Covid-19 pandemic: unable to find sufficient hospital beds, access to tests, medicines or oxygen, the country of 1.4 billion is sinking beneath the weight of infections. The two opposed assumptions of the global response to coronavirus – wealthy countries in the west prioritising vaccines for their own need in one camp, and the argument led by the World Health Organization for global vaccine equality in the other – are also failing to hold as the scale of the crisis in India points to an urgent need to prioritise the response there. With the global supply of vaccines unlikely to pick up until the end of this year, what is required now is international leadership and a recognition that, despite the best intentions of the World Health Organization and the vaccine-sharing Covax initiative to fairly distribute jabs, the pandemic may require a period of more focused firefig...

    The apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has described the killing of a top commander of the Eastern Security Network, ESN, Ikonso Don as a disaster.  reports that this was contained in a statement by the Secretary-General of the organization, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro. He said the killing had made Ikonso a martyr and further worsened the tensed security situation in the Southeast zone. Isiguzoro while questioning the circumstances surrounding the killing of the IPOB member, declared that “we have taken time to study the entire situation before issuing this statement and we feel that many questions are left unanswered. “There are strong counter claims that Ikonso was not killed during a gun duel contrary to the statement by security agencies. And our question is: why kill a man you have taken captive? Why did they not arrest and prosecute him in a court of competent jurisdiction? “So, we are questioning the circumstances surrounding his ...

  India has shattered a global record of daily coronavirus cases, reporting a grim 314,835 new infections in the last 24 hours. India further recorded 2,023 additional deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 15,616,130 infections and the death toll to 182,553 people, according to data released by the health ministry on Thursday. There are 2,157,538 active cases in the country, with an increase of 125,561 cases through to Tuesday, while 13,276,039 people have been cured and discharged from hospitals. At least 22 patients died due to a low oxygen supply after a leakage in the oxygen supply tank of a civic hospital in India's Nashik town, around 167 km from Mumbai. India's COVID-19 vaccine capacity has been severely affected as the U.S. has restricted exports of more than 30 key v...

  The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines are 94% effective at preventing hospitalizations among fully vaccinated adults ages 65 and older, according to a real-world study published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The two-dose mRNA vaccines were also found in the study to be 64% effective at preventing hospitalizations in the elderly who received just one shot. The study evaluated 417 hospitalized adults across 14 states from January to March. The U.S. agency said the findings were consistent with those found in clinical trials. “This multisite U.S. evaluation under real-world conditions suggests that vaccination provided protection against COVID-19–associated hospitalization among adults aged ≥65 years,” the CDC wrote in the study. “Vaccination is a critical tool for reducing severe COVID-19 in groups at high risk.” The CDC study provides more evidence on the benefits of getting vaccinated against the virus, which has infected ...

  Experts don't know yet because they're still studying vaccinated people to see when protection might wear off. How well the vaccines work against emerging variants will also determine if, when and how often additional shots might be needed. “We only have information for as long as the vaccines have been studied," said Deborah Fuller, a vaccine researcher at the University of Washington. “We have to study the vaccinated population and start to see, at what point do people become vulnerable again to the virus?” So far, Pfizer's ongoing trial indicates the company's two-dose vaccine remains highly effective for at least six months, and likely longer. People who got Moderna’s vaccine also still had notable levels of virus-fighting antibodies six months after the second required shot. Antibodies also don't tell the whole story. To fight off intruders like viruses, our immune systems also have another line of defense called B and T cells, some of whic...

  WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday will take place in a U.S. Capitol on high alert, with memories fresh of the deadly January 6 attack on the building by supporters of his predecessor, Donald Trump.  The crowd inside the Capitol will be a small fraction of the hundreds of members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, top government officials and guests who typically attend, to allow for more social distancing in a COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 572,000 Americans.  But security will be higher than usual, even for what is officially designated a "National Special Security Event," with the Secret Service in charge of security.  "The Secret Service and all law enforcement and public safety partners have worked hard collectively in preparation to secure this significant event," said a Secret Service representative, adding that "every security contingency is accounted for....

  WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden's first address to Congress is an invite-only affair, no guests allowed. The restrictions for Wednesday's event are due to COVID-19 safety protocols, but they will have the added security benefit of a limited number of people inside the U.S. Capitol for the president's first major indoor event since he took office just weeks after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Fencing is still up around the Capitol, and the National Guard is still there. "Obviously the events of the sixth are poignant reminders of why we need to be vigilant," said Michael Plati, the U.S. Secret Service special agent in charge who is leading security for the joint session. "But the standard of security remains the same." Congressional leadership extended the invitations, and anyone without one must leave the building by 5 p.m. Wednesday, though staff with Capitol offices and those credentialed by the sergeant-at-arms can remain in the buildi...

  WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden is proposing a wide expansion of national government assistance for American children and families on Wednesday as he prepares to make his first address to a joint session of Congress. Biden plans to lay out details of his $1.8 trillion proposal in a nationally televised speech, being witnessed in person by about 200 socially distanced, mask-wearing lawmakers and key U.S. officials in the House of Representatives chamber. Normally, the crowd for such an address would be 1,600 but is being sharply limited Wednesday night by the ongoing threat of the coronavirus. The plan features two years of government-paid, pre-kindergarten education for the country’s youths and two years of free community college for young adults, all of it to be paid for with higher taxes on the country’s wealthiest people. In addition, Biden’s proposal calls for $225 billion in child-care assistance for U.S. families and monthly payments of at least $250 ...

  President Biden, on the eve of his 100th day in office, is poised Wednesday to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress. He is expected to pitch a pair of ambitious spending and tax packages in the prime-time speech and call for lawmakers to pass his immigration plan. Biden’s address comes a day after he touted the relaxation of masking restrictions for fully vaccinated people, offering his latest remarks on the coronavirus pandemic, an issue that has dominated the opening months of his presidency.