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http://ift.tt/2s8eELq Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba / AFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI A newsreader for Gabon state television has been taken off the air after mistakenly announcing the death of President Ali Bongo, the channel said on Saturday. Journalist Wivine Ovandong made the error during a Gabon Television news bulletin on Thursday when she read from notes saying that Bongo had died in Barcelona. In fact, Thursday was the eighth anniversary of the death of Bongo’s father and predecessor, Omar, who did die in Barcelona on June 8, 2009, after more than four decades in power. Current president Ali Bongo is alive and well. Gabon Television director general Mathieu Koumba told AFP that Ovandong had been suspended as “a precautionary measure”. “We need to protect her, too, because social media has had a field day,” he added. Koumba appeared on the channel on Friday and said it had apologised to Bongo and his family for the “blunder”. “It can happen to anyone. But this w...

http://ift.tt/2s8eELq Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba / AFP PHOTO / MARCO LONGARI A newsreader for Gabon state television has been taken off the air after mistakenly announcing the death of President Ali Bongo, the channel said on Saturday. Journalist Wivine Ovandong made the error during a Gabon Television news bulletin on Thursday when she read from notes saying that Bongo had died in Barcelona. In fact, Thursday was the eighth anniversary of the death of Bongo’s father and predecessor, Omar, who did die in Barcelona on June 8, 2009, after more than four decades in power. Current president Ali Bongo is alive and well. Gabon Television director general Mathieu Koumba told AFP that Ovandong had been suspended as “a precautionary measure”. “We need to protect her, too, because social media has had a field day,” he added. Koumba appeared on the channel on Friday and said it had apologised to Bongo and his family for the “blunder”. “It can happen to anyone. But this w...

http://ift.tt/2rdywvS Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State. Gov. Simon Lalong of Plateau, on Friday condemned threats to evict Igbos from the North by a youth group as reckless and ill conceived. The governor made the condemnation in a statement by his media aide, Mr Emmanuel Nanle on Friday in Jos. Lalong stressed that those who issued the ultimatum had negated the true northern spirit of communality, accommodation and peaceful coexistence. He regretted that a highly volatile issue of such nature was trivialised and made an agenda for grandstanding by the group without any thought of its implication to the stability of the country. The governor said that such rash statements was uncalled for, especially at a time when all compatriots were working hard to solidify bonds of unity and national integration. He advised media houses to censor “retrogressive contributions to national discourse” like those of the Arewa youth coalition and IPOB. Lalong urged governors in the S...

http://ift.tt/2oHYisj President Muhammadu Buhari Sen. Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna Central) has commended President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for rescuing the country from the abyss. Sani told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Zaria, Kaduna State, that the APC government was striving to restore dignity of the country at different levels. He spoke on the sidelines of the 10th National Conference of School of General Education, Federal College of Education, Zaria. Sani noted the tremendous achievements recorded by Buhari in the areas of security, corruption and changing the image of Nigeria abroad. The senator expressed satisfaction that the APC-led government had moved Nigeria away from the deft of hopelessness, “but yet to take us to the promise land’’. “Nigerians are suffering, they are in poverty and there is no confidence between the masses and those in position of authority except Buhari. “The masses in Nigeria have confidence only in President Buhari but...

http://ift.tt/2rfbNNL File photo used only for illustrative purpose. PHOTO: BBC A 14 year old female suspected suicide bomber says Boko Haram leaders choose her to detonate an Improvised Explosive Device in Maiduguri because she refused to get married to their members in Sambisa Forest. The suspect is among three suspects arrested by the military when they allegedly came for a suicide mission at a military facility in Jakana in Maiduguri. The suspect told the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday that she was sent on the mission to detonate the device because she refused marriage proposals from three Boko Haram terrorists. The suspect said she was abducted with her father, Usman, by Boko Haram insurgents in Gwoza, Borno, in 2013. She said she and her father were running to Mandara mounting for safety when they were abducted. The suspect said she and her father wanted to travel to Madagali in Adamawa where he normally sold cows before Boko Haram insurgents att...

http://ift.tt/2r4ciwP The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, saying that at least one person had been confirmed dead due to the virus in the country’s north-east.PHOTO:AFP The Management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has assured Nigerians of adequate surveillance at the nation’s airports following the outbreak of Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, saying that at least one person had been confirmed dead due to the virus in the country’s north-east. Mr Henrietta Yakubu, FAAN’s Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, saying that there was no direct flight from Congo to Nigeria. Yakubu also assured that all the preventive measures being put in place at the airports were still in place. She said that the Por...