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Okagbare And The Redemption Song

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Nigerians who are sports lovers are singing redemption song after Blessing Okagbare set a new African record of 10.79 seconds in the women’s 100 metres at the 2013  IAAF Diamond League also known as Olympics Anniversary Games in London last weekend.

Okagbare’s winning time of 10.79 seconds eclipsed the record time of 10.86 which she had set in the semi-finals.

Both times eclipsed the old record of 10.90 seconds set by another Nigerian woman, Gloria Alozie, over a decade ago.

In winning the event, Okagbare beat Olympic champion, Shelly-Ann Frazer-Pryce of Jamaica, who could only manage a fourth place, despite setting a world leading time of 10.77 seconds in the heats. Barbara Pierre of the United States was second behind Okagbare in 10.85 seconds.

Her performance has to some extent redeemed Nigeria’s image in athletics which was smeared exactly one year  ago at the London  Olympic Games where Nigeria’s contingent failed to win a medal.

The IAAF Diamond League is an annual series of track and field events held all over the world, and this year, the Anniversary Games held in London seems a fitting encore to the Olympics.

The competitors at the games were top rated athletes who participated in the Olympics. The list include Allyson Felix, Mo Farah, Ryan Bailey, Sanya Richards-Ross, and of course, Usain Bolt. With more than 60,000 fans attending the event, it was a grand platform for athletes to showcase their skills and Okagbare rose to the occasion with her stellar performance.

Before last weekend’s feat in London, the University of Texas graduate won the women’s long jump event at the IAAF Diamond League Grand Prix in the Swiss city of Lausanne.

Okagbare jumped a remarkable 6.98 metres earning a +1.1 ahead of USA’s Brittney Reese and Britain’s Shara Proctor who finished third with a personal best of 6.92 metres.

She had her second fastest ever 22.55 seconds to win the 200m event of the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix in Birmingham, England in June.

With the scintillating performance in London last weekend, the reigning Nigerian sprint queen, who recently won her sprint crown for the fifth consecutive time, has sent a warning message to her opponents in the 14th IAAF World Championship scheduled for Moscow, Russia from 10-18 August.

The Minister of Sports and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, NSC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, believes if Okagbare continues with her current form she may emerge world champion in the women’s 100m race at the Russia tourney.

Former international long jumper, Yusuf Alli, who was the captain of the Nigerian contingent to the 1980 Moscow Olympics, also expressed confidence that the 2008 Beijing Olympics bronze medalist in long jump will come back from Russia with a medal with her current podium time.

To echo the words of Sunday Uti, a 1984 Los Angeles Olympic 4x400m relay bronze medalist, there is just a thin line between success and failure. What separates success from failure is that extra push an athlete puts into his work, either at training or competition. That is what gives the edge.

It is easy to celebrate victory but to achieve a remarkable feat like the one Okagbare achieved in London is not a fluke. It calls for perseverance, commitment, focus and hard work. She should be assisted by the relevant authorities such as the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, and the Delta State Government, the state where the athlete hails from, to continue to soar  and bring honour to her country.

All the athletes that will represent Nigeria in Russia deserve encouragement for them to also excel. The mistakes which led to the woeful performance of Team Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics should be avoided because the World Championship is the equivalent of the World Cup in football.

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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