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Driver on the run with suspected bags of cannabis dies in accident
A fatal car accident that occurred in the early hours of Tuesday morning on Kairaba Avenue, opposite Latrikunda Upper Basic School has claimed the life the driver who was on the run while suspected to be in possession with five bags of cannabis, The Point has been informed.
The driver, who was driving a private Benz with the registration number BJL 1141Q was reported to be coming from the Traffic-light end with speed. As he was speeding, his vehicle tyres burst and eventually lost control. He hit a nearby pole resulting in an accident that claimed his life.
A source that earlier spoke to our reporter claimed that the driver was being pursued by officers of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency, The Gambia (DLEAG).
Meanwhile, the agency spokesperson, Ousman Saidybah, who was contacted for comments, dismissed rumours that suggest that DLEAG operatives were involved in chasing the driver. He said: “I can clearly tell you that our operatives were not involved in any operations in chasing a driver. We have contacted all our commands within the area but none of their officers were involved in such operation.”
PRO Saidybah added that immediately after the accident happened, DLEAG was contacted because there was some suspected cannabis found in the vehicle. “Our officers visited the scene and are working closely with our police counterparts. The matter is under investigation and when the investigation is completed, the suspected five bags of cannabis will be handed over to the agency.”
Lamin Njie, spokesperson of The Gambia Police Force couldn’t be reached for comments at the time of going to press.
SOURCE POINT NEWSPAPER
300 stalls perish in Basse Market inferno, 7 arrested for looting
Police in Basse in the Upper River Region have arrested seven people for looting during the Basse Market inferno on Monday which officials say destroyed over 300 stalls within the market.
The cause of the fire incident at the time of going to press is yet to be established.
The leader of The Gambia Democratic Congress (GDC), Mama Kandeh has extended benevolence in the sum of D200,000 to the victims of the fire incidents.
Meanwhile, officials of the NDMA in URR, Basse Red Cross and staff of the Basse Area Council were conducting a rapid assessment with a view to establishing the scale of damage caused by the inferno.
The blaze was reported to have started around 6 p.m. Monday evening, when most of the market vendors were about to close.
The chairman of BSAC, Foday Danjo, described the inferno as ‘unbelievable’ and ‘shocking,’ saying that the council is planning at the moment to temporarily relocate the market to Koba Kunda, a surburb of Basse.
Quizzed as to the cause of the fire outbreak, the Chairman said according to some eyewitness, the cause of the inferno was the result of electricity spark. “The fire incident started from one stall within the market. The market vendors tried to control it internally but it eventually spins out of control and went on to consume over 300 stalls.”
The council, he went on, is launching an appeal from the central government, NGOs, philanthropist and individuals among others to come to the aid of the affected businessmen and women.
“Some affected individuals were entirely depending on some of these things that they sell in the market.”
Pa Modou Bojang expresses dismay over radio closure
Pa Modou Bojang, manager of Home Digital FM which was recently closed by government has expressed disappointment over the closure of the two radio stations: Home Digital and King FM without following due process or giving any reason.
Mr. Bojang was speaking in an interview with reporters on Tuesday shortly after the government announced its decision for the reopening of the two radio stations and subsequently dropping all charges against their managers and staff who were arrested and briefly detained last month.
This decision came following the Gambia Press Union’s (GPU) and the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) collaborated efforts that led to a fruitful discussion for reopen on Tuesday.
“I am very disappointed with the minister of Information and Communication and The Gambia government at large for closing and reopening of our radio stations without giving any reason. We were expecting that the government will come up with a reason for shutting down our radio stations,” said Pa Modou Bojang.
According to him, he never had doubts about the reopening of two radio stations because they had done nothing wrong.
“The only thing I will emphasise is my disappointment with the minister of Information and The Gambia government in general because due process was not followed for the closing down of the radio stations.
Forced sterilisation in South Africa: They removed my uterus
A woman in South Africa has told the BBC how she was sterilised without her consent after she gave birth at the age of 17, and only learned about it 11 years later when she tried to have another child.
Bongekile Msibi was among 48 women sterilised without consent at state hospitals, the Commission for Gender Equality found.
Despite being a statutory body, the commission said its inquiry was hampered by the “disappearance” of patients’ files, and its investigators had received a “hostile reception” from hospital staff.
The commission said its investigators visited 15 hospitals after civil rights groups brought the cases, some dating back to 2001, to its attention.
South Africa’s health department has not yet given a detailed response to the report, but said its minister, Zweli Mkhize, had requested a meeting with the commission to discuss it.
Ms Msibi recalled her ordeal to the BBC’s Clare Spencer:
I woke up after giving birth, looked down and asked: “Why do I have a huge bandage on my stomach?”
I did not mind. I had just given birth to my baby daughter. She was a big baby and I had been anaesthetised and gone through a Caesarean section.
I left hospital five days after giving birth, with a healthy baby daughter and a huge scar across my stomach.
I did not find out what had really happened for another 11 years.
Things unravelled when I was trying to conceive again.
I had been taking the contraceptive pill for that whole time since I had given birth and so it was not strange that I had not had my period.
But I got engaged and wanted to have another baby so went to the doctor.
He examined me, sat me down, gave me a glass of water and told me I had no uterus.
‘It is very cruel’
I was devastated and confused. It did not make sense because I was already a mother.
I worked out my uterus must have been removed and the only time it could have happened was after I had given birth.
It is very cruel what they did to me.
I went to the press, then the health ministry and eventually ended up back at the hospital where I gave birth with the doctor who said he was there that day.
He did not say sorry. He told me that he had sterilised me in order to save my life.
I still do not know what he was trying to save me from. There are no records at the hospital.
I am not the only one. An inquiry has found there are 47 others. Some were told it was because they had HIV, but I do not. I just don’t know why they did it.
The doctor told me that I had signed a consent form. I had not. I was a minor at the time so would not have been able to.
He then said my mother, who was with me at the birth, had signed the consent form. She said she did not.
The news changed my life.
In the end I split up with my fiancé. I had to let him go because he really wanted children and I could not give him that.
When I met the doctor I was asked what I want.
I want a baby so badly. When I saw a pregnant colleague this week I could not stand it.
My daughter wants a sibling and when we go past street kids she suggests I bring one up as my own.
I still have ovaries and so I think the hospital should pay for a surrogate.
- Adults entitled to it through safe methods
- Procedure must be clearly explained, including risks and consequences
- Consent can be withdrawn at anytime
- Forms giving go-ahead must be understood and signed
- Separate rules must be followed for those “incapable” of consenting
Source: South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality
I also want somebody to be held accountable.
We cannot allow doctors to keep on doing this because our rights as women are being violated.
Doctors need to know that they are under scrutiny, that we know what they get up to when we are lifeless.
And then I want the doctor who did this to say he is sorry.
The way this has been handled, you would think they had just removed a finger when actually this is my entire womanhood they have stolen.
I can never get over that and the scar will always be a reminder.
SOURCE BBC NEWS
First flight from China arrives in Kenya after banFirst flight from China arrives in Kenya after ban
The first flight from China has arrived in Kenya are a two-week ban imposed because of the coronavirus outrbeak.
The authorities have allowed the 239 passengers off the China Southern Airlines flight after it landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital, Nairobi.
They were screened on board to check for any signs that they were carrying the deadly virus.
The health ministry said the passengers had been advised to self-isolate for 14 days as a precaution – the first time such a large number of passengers have been told to do so.
The Guangzhou-Nairobi route, suspended two weeks ago, will now provide one flight per week, down from the usual four.
Health Minister Sicily Kariuki said in a statement that a total of 17 suspected cases had been reported in the East African nation but they had all tested negative for the virus that causes the respiratory disease Covid-19.
She also advised Kenyans against non-essential travel to countries with confirmed cases.
Globally, more than 80,000 people in more than 40 countries have now been infected and more than 2,700 people have died.
Many Kenyans on social media have expressed disbelief at the government’s decision to let in the passengers from China.
On Wednesday, Algeria became the second country in Africa to confirm a coronavirus case after Egypt. The country’s health ministry said the patient arrived from Italy on 17 February.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti has warned that Africa’s “window of opportunity to prepare for the Covid19 disease is closing”
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Nigerian soldier kills himself and four colleagues
A formal investigation has been launched in Nigeria after a solider shot dead four colleagues on Wednesday before taking his own life, the army says.
Two other soldiers were injured in the incident at a military base in Borno state and were taken to a military hospital in Maiduguri for treatment, army spokesman Sagir Musa added.
Borno state is one of the areas worst affected by the decade-long insurgency waged by Islamist insurgents in north-eastern Nigeria.
Last year, a retired officer, who now specialises in mental health, said many soldiers fighting Boko Haram militants were “suffering mental illness in silence”
Hackers clone SA intelligence minister’s phone
Mobile phones belonging to South Africa’s intelligence minister Ayanda Dlodlo and her deputy, Zizi Kodwa, have been cloned.
High-profile investigators were looking into how the phones – and that of several other intelligence officials – had been cloned, the security ministry said.
Cloning involves the transferring of data from one mobile phone to another.
It was not unclear who was responsible or if any sensitive information had been compromised, the ministry said.
Ms Dlodlo’s spokesman told the Reuters news agency that the cloning was discovered when several individuals received text messages purportedly from Mr Kodwa.
The embarrassing admission comes a few weeks after a break-in at the State Security Agency’s headquarters in the capital, Pretoria.
Robbers walked into a safe at the office and left with classified documents and an undisclosed amount of money in local and foreign currency, according to South Africa’s IOL news website.
In a security breach last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s emails relating to an election campaign were hacked and leaked.
Guinea president ‘snubs West African leaders’
Guinea’s President Alpha Condé has refused to meet a delegation of West African leaders as the country heads towards a referendum that could allow him run for a third term, reports Radio France Internationale (RFI)
A delegation of heads of states from the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), was scheduled to visit Guinea on Friday, RFI reports quoting high-ranking sources.
It was to be led by Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou and was to include Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari, Ghana’s Nana Akufo-Addo and Burkina Faso’s Roch Marc Christian Kaboré.
Guinea has been plunged into political crisis over President Condé’s push for constitutional reforms through a referendum that will be held on 1 March. The opposition has said it will boycott the vote.
Opponents see the process as a plot to enable the 81-year-old leader, who is nearing the end of the two terms allotted under the present constitution, to stay in power for up to another decade.
Several protesters have died in various anti-government demonstrations in recent months.
Another man jumps from cab into Lagos Lagoon
Another young man, who is yet to be identified, around midnight on Thursday, leapt from an Uber car and jumped into the Lagos Lagoon.
This is coming barely 10 days after a man alighted from a cab and jumped into the same Lagos Lagoon.
The man jumped into the Lagoon from the Third Mainland Bridge at midnight, sources in the Rapid Response Squad sIaid on Thursday.
he was said to have landed on floating logs of wood beneath the Third Mainland Bridge.
The cab driver told officials of the RRS that he picked the passenger from Igando, a suburb of Lagos.
He said, “I carried him (the passenger) from Igando and he insisted I pass through the Third Mainland Bridge.
“On getting to the bridge, he asked me whether this was Third Mainland Bridge and I answered yes.
“He told me that he was pressed and that I should wait for him to ease himself. I was curious. At this time, he was forcing me to wait. I stylishly drove him to the point where the RRS men were standing inward Lagos.
“I told him I was no longer interested in the trip before I approached the police officers leaving him inside the car.”
A source, who is also an eyewitness, said, “As soon as the cab driver approached the police informing them of what his passenger was telling him, he (the victim) got down from the Volkswagen Jetta car and jumped into the Lagoon but he landed on floating logs of wood.
“Before he jumped, one of the police officers who saw him approached the railings of the bridge and persuaded him not to jump.”
sources reported that the victim was rescued but sustained varying degrees of injury.
It was also gathered that the victim was rushed to the Lagos State Teaching Hospital, where he was later referred to Lagos University Teaching Hospital.
“The incident was reported at Adekunle Police Station, Yaba,”
SOURCE PUNCH NEWS
Nigeria scotches coronavirus rumors in Lagos
A suspected case of coronavirus in Nigeria has tested negative, according to the authorities in the country’s main city of Lagos.
The Chinese citizen, who arrived in the country seven weeks ago, went to a hospital in Lagos earlier this week with a fever, raising concerns.
Lagos State’s health ministry released the news on Twitter after rumors of a potential coronavirus case started spreading online.
The statement urged Nigerians not to spread unverified news
about the disease and emphasized the city’s readiness for a potential outbreak.
This is the 11th suspected coronavirus case in Nigeria to come back negative.
Earlier this week, Algeria became the second country on the continent to confirm a coronavirus case, after an Italian man tested positive.
Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, has killed more than 2,700 people. Most of the deaths have been in China, where the virus originated in December.
Globally, more than 80,000 people in more than 40 countries have now been infected.
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