BAKKACIMA BLOG

Prof. Ben Ayade the Cross River state governor, has ordered the immediate suspension of transportation of scrap of all categories out of the state. This is as a result of the massive looting and destruction of public and private properties as well as businesses in Calabar by hoodlums last week.  Newsmen learned that most of the items that were looted by hoodlums were being transported out of the state in the guise that those items were scraps. The suspension contained in a statement issued Wednesday, by the governor’s Special Adviser, Media & Publicity, Mr Christian Ita warned transporters not to aid anyone in whatever guise to transport any item out if the state. He said: “It has come to the attention of the governor that in a desperate bid to escape arrest, criminals and their masterminds who callously looted government and private properties have now resorted to moving such items out of the state disguised as scraps. Consequently, the government hereby places an immediate ban on

  Nigeria’s ex-finance minister and nominee for the office of the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has emerged winner of the highly competitive race. The ex-minister polled 104 votes from 164 member countries to defeat her South Korea’s trade minister  opponent, at the final stage of the race More details soon.....

  With the entire board,  Barcelona  president Josep Maria Bartomeu has resigned  from their posts. The president had been due to officially end his tenure next year, with elections called for March, but the club's members called for a vote of no confidence in an effort to get Bartomeu out immediately. A total of 20,687 votes were gathered for the motion against Bartomeu, passing the threshold of 16,250 signatures required for the vote to go ahead.  The Barca board repeatedly tried to postpone the vote but, on Monday, local authorities rejected the club's push to delay the proceedings.  As a result, the vote was set to go ahead in the coming weeks, but will no longer be necessary as Bartomeu and the board have stepped down. Bartomeu said on Monday that he believed that Messi could lead Barca to titles this season, admitting that he could not let the Argentine leave for the good of the club.  And now, it is Bartomeu that is leaving, as he ends his time in charge of Barca after n

  President Josep Maria Bartomeu announces the resignation of the FC Barcelona Board of Directors. The cause of their resignation is yet unknown.  More details coming soon ..........

   A tanker loaded with Premium Motor Spirit  exploded on the Otedola bridge in Lagos state in the early hours of today Saturday, October 17.   According to the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the incident occurred around 2am involving a tanker loaded with Premium Motor Spirit and a truck carrying other goods.  The Director-General of LASEMA, Dr Olufemi Oke-Osanyitolu, said both trucks were out-bound Lagos for delivery. “The Agency promptly responded to a fire outbreak after several distress calls were received from the control room at the above-mentioned address at around 0200hrs. On arrival at the incident scene, it was discovered that a 40fit containerized Truck loaded with fabric had a brake failure while moving inward Berger. It then collided with a tanker loaded with 33000 litres of PMS. The impact of the collision resulted in fire outbreak.”Oke-Osanyitolu said No casualty was recorded in the incident, he added. 

  Abdul Mahmud, a former Students' union leader and activist, has lent his voice to the #EndSARS movement which has been revitalized in the last few days.  In a tweet he shared, Mahmud alleged that President Buhari is desperate and ''the threat to shut down Nigeria's internet over the #EndSARS protest is real.''   See his tweet below;   Buhari is desperate. The threat to shut the internet is real. I mentioned it to protesters on Saturday. It is the last dice of this irresponsible government. Time to start exchanging telephone numbers! #SARSMUSTEND We must resist the shutting down as it will imperil small businesses, hospitals that depend on the net for specialist online services, and cripple our economy. Buhari doesn't care; but we must force him to care! Nation-building isn't about exercising naked power!  

  Gladwn Mboweni 51, committed suicide by setting his home on fire using a highly inflammable substance in  South Africa. But he was not the only one that died in the incident.  His two daughters, 13-year old Minkateko and Tsakani Mboweni,9, also died in the incident which happened at Nkowankowa township outside Tzaneen in Limpopo. Mboweni was the Mopani District Manager of Stats South Africa.    Police spokesperson, Brig. Motlafela Mojapelo, who confirmed the incident on Monday, October 12, say the motive was still unknown but they are not ruling out domestic violence.   "The neighbours allegedly saw the house engulfed in flames and jumped over the wall fence to rescue the occupants. They broke one of the windows to get inside and in the process managed to rescue the father who had already suffered from smoke inhalation. He died on the scene." said Brig. Mojapelo. “The intense of the blaze and smoke forced them out. The police and emergency personnel as well as fire fighters

Health e xperts has called on the federal government of Nigeria and other stakeholders to invest more in effort to prevent HIV infection. HIV prevention intervention team while advocating for supportive policy and programmes,  made the call at a media roundtable organised by AVAC Fellow 2020 in partnership with the Journalists Alliance for AIDS, JAAIDS on the role of media in HIV prevention advocacy with the theme: “Advocating for supportive policy and programmes for effective HIV prevention interventions”. The Key Population Advisor, Heartland Alliance, Mr. Michael said they were funding gaps for interventions needed by the majority while interventions needed by fewer are funded most. “ We need more investment in prevention in order to match our investment in treatment because we cannot leave people to be getting infested and we are much more interested in putting money in treating them, so we need to move towards investment in prevention,” he said. The Executive Director, JAAIDS, Mrs

Obviously there are indications that Nigeria’s poverty level may have further deteriorated as the latest reports of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, NECA, shows a 10 percentage point rise in the number of the extreme poor in the country against the 2019 report of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. NECA’s report says that the number of citizens in extreme poverty now stands at an estimated 102 million, representing 50 per cent of the Nigeria’s estimated population of about 205 million, as against the 40 per cent reported by NBS in October last year. This comes at the backdrop of the World Bank forecast that global extreme poverty is expected to rise in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years as the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic compounds the forces of conflict and climate change, which were already slowing down progress in poverty reduction efforts around the world. Financial Vanguard’s findings from the data obtained from NECA revealed that the total number o

  Twitter again flagged one of Trump's tweets for violating their rules on spreading misinformation about COVID-19. This time it was because of his false and dangerous claim that he is now immune to the coronavirus and can no longer spread it. In the tweet, he wrote, "A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can’t get it (immune), and can’t give it. Very nice to know!!!" The letter from the doctors he is referring to was issued on Saturday night and does not explicitly say that the president tested negativefor the virus. The warning labels, which also make it impossible for the tweet to be retweeted, are a fairly toothless rebuke. They've also deleted posts and other tweets the president has shared. Still, the platform has long resisted calls to ban the president entirely from tweeting. However, while Twitter has stepped up their corrective actions against the president's habit of making false claims in recent months, they see

  Mohammed Adamu, the Inspector-General of Nigeria Police, has disbanded the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police Force nationwide.    The IG made the announcement in a live broadcast on Sunday October 11, and confirmed the operatives will be redeployed to other police formations and commands. Below is the full statement of the Inspector General of police Mohammed Adamu; In the finest spirit of democratic, citizen-centred and community policing, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni has today, 11th October, 2020, dissolved the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 State Police Commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where they hitherto existed.   The IGP, while noting that the dissolution of SARS is in response to the yearnings of the Nigerian people, observes that by this dissolution, all officers and men of the now defunct Special Anti-robbery Squad are being redeployed with immediate effect.   The IGP notes that the Force is

  Aregbesola, a Nigerian-born sailor renounced his country of birth to join the United States Navy.   Taking to Twitter on Saturday, October 10, the officer and father of one recalled how he was jobless for many years in Nigeria but the U.S. Navy saw his potential and made him a sailor.   "I was jobless for so many years, my country of birth (Nigeria, now renounced) failed me, but the U.S. NAVY saw potentials in me and made me a fine ass sailor, working on Jet engines" he wrote.   When a Nigerian Twitter user criticised him for renouncing his country of birth, Aregbesola replied that it was part of the requirements for the type of job he does for the U.S Navy.

  Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's daughter, Kiki has joined the #EndSARS campaign aimed at stopping police brutality and scrapping the controversial police unit.    Sharing a photo of the #EndSARS campaign, Kiki wrote;    POLICE BRUTALITY MUST END NOW.. #endpolicebrutality #endsars   However, in other news, it is gathered that President Buhari's daughter has also joined in the #Endsars campaign.    

  Rev. Travis Clark, a Catholic priest has been arrested for desecrating the altar of Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Pearl River, Louisiana.    The priest was arrested for filming himself having sex with two dominatrices on the altar at his Catholic church. The dominatrices were identified as adult film actress Mindy Dixon, 41, and 23-year-old Melissa Cheng.  According to news making rounds, they were nabbed after a passerby saw the lights on later than usual on September 30. The unidentified witness saw the half-naked priest having sex with the two women who were dressed in corsets and high-heeled boots. The altar was also adorned with stage lighting, several sex toys, and a cellphone mounted on a tripod that was recording the act.   The witness took video footage of the unholy trinity and then called police. Cops arrested Rev. Clark along with his two altar servers Mindy Dixon and Melissa Cheng, and booked them on obscenity charges. New site, Nola, reported that Dixon

Kanye West took to Twitter on Thursday, October 8, to share an OK! magazine article that claims he now has a net worth of $5 billion.   Kanye commented on it, writing: "From $53 million in debt to a net worth of $5 billion in 4 years. Thank you, Jesus. I know I fall short, but I repent. I am fully in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are building schools of the future. Thank God for providing the increase." But he has been accused of Lying.  The rapper, who is contesting for the US presidency, disclosed his financial records to the Federal Election Commission, something every presidential candidate is supposed to do.   According to Business Insider, Kanye West admitted in the financial disclosure forms to being worth "hundreds of millions of dollars" despite claiming to be worth $5 billion after signing a 10-year deal with Gap. The dad-of-four has partnerships with several huge brands, including Adidas, Louis Vuitton, and GAP. He also has his G.O.O.D. 

  Donald Trump was back on social media shortly after returning from the hospital, downplaying the severity of the coronavirus.  “Flu season is coming up!” read the post published to the president’s Facebook page on Tuesday morning. “Many people every year, sometimes over 100,000, and despite the Vaccine, die from the Flu. Are we going to close down our Country? No, we have learned to live with it, just like we are learning to live with Covid, in most populations far less lethal!!!” This is not true. Yes, people still die from the flu. The CDC reported at least 24,000 people in the U.S. died from the flu during the entire 2019-2020 season, which is in line with numbers in previous years.  The United States have recorded more than 210,000 deaths from COVID-19 in just six months. Without quarantining and social distancing, those numbers would undoubtedly be much higher. Also, as Trump mentioned, there’s no vaccine, like there is for the flu. “We remove incorrect information about the sev