LAGOS ASSEMBLY REINSTATE PENSILE LAWMAKERS...

The Lagos State House of Assembly has reinstated lawmakers who were earlier suspended indefinitely for alleged gross misconduct.

The affected lawmakers are Lanre Oshun (Mainland Constituency), Raheem Olawale (Ibeju-Lekki).

The Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, announced their reinstatement during plenary on Thursday.


Details later...

PRESIDENT TRUMP CLAIMS DEMOCRATS AND THE MEDIA WANT TO KEEP BUSINESSES SHUT TO HURT HIS REELECTION, NOT PROTECT FROM THE CORONAVIRUS...

President Donald Trump again used his daily White House briefing on the coronavirus to rail against the press and Democrats, arguing Wednesday that they oppose his idea to potentially reopen businesses within weeks because they want the economy to fail and hurt his reelection prospects.

In recent days, Trump has said he wants businesses in large parts of the country to reopen by Easter, defying public health experts who say people need to continue isolating and social distancing for several months.

When CBS News reporter Paula Reid asked Wednesday if the president's Easter timeline was linked to his political interests, Trump lashed out.

“The media would like to see me do poorly in the election,” he said. “I think there are certain people who would like it not to open so quickly. There are certain people who would like the economy to do poorly because that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls. I don't know if that's so, but I think there are people in your profession that would like that to happen. I think it's very clear.”

He continued, telling Reid, “I think it's very clear that there are people in your profession that write fake news. You do. She does. There are people in your profession that write fake news. They would love to see me, for whatever reason — because we've done one hell of a job. Nobody's done the job that we've done. And it's lucky that you have this group here right here for this problem, or you wouldn't even have a country left. Okay?”

The president made a similar argument on Twitter earlier on Wednesday.

The plan, Trump has said, would be to lock down hot spots like New York where there are a high number of cases and let businesses in other parts of the country reopen in the coming weeks.

But experts say the entire country does need to remain closed and people need to remain home for more than just a few more weeks. Vincent Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University, told BuzzFeed News on Monday that there isn’t enough testing being done in the US to know how many people have been infected. This makes any plan to keep infection hot spots locked down impossible.

“If you just lock down those who have clinical symptoms, it's not going to do a damn thing,” Racaniello said. “For god’s sake, do people really not have any patience in this country? It was finite in China. It will be finite here.”

Additionally, according to estimates from the New York Times, many states could hit peak cases in May, several weeks after Easter.

VICTOR MOSES GETS PERMISSION TO RETURN TO ENGLAND AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC...

Former Nigeria international Victor Moses has been given permission to return to England amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

The online edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that the Chelsea-owned winger was given the go-ahead to travel to England on Tuesday to be with his family following the end of the self-isolation taken after Juventus defender Daniele Rugani tested positive for the virus.

With a view to the resumption of the Italian Serie A, Moses will follow a training regime delivered to him by Inter’s fitness coaches before he left Milan.

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner was recovering from a thigh problem before the league was postponed.

Moses has appeared in seven matches for Inter Milan since his loan move in January, logging 359 minutes.

ISIS TELLS ITS TERRORISTS NOT TO TRAVEL TO EUROPE FOR JIHAD BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS...

After years of urging its terrorists to attack major European cities, ISIS is now telling them to steer clear due to the coronavirus.

Any sick jihadists already in Europe, however, should stay there — presumably to sicken infidels, according to a ‘sharia’ directive printed in the group’s al-Naba newsletter, the Sunday Times of London reported.

The “healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it,” the newsletter advised.

The newsletter instructs jihadists that the “plague” is a “torment sent by God on whomsoever He wills.”

Iraq, where most of the surviving fragments of the group remain, had 110 reported coronavirus cases on Sunday morning, ten of them fatal, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the contagion.

BOARDING SCHOOL CHILDREN, REVEREND SISTER, OTHERS PERISHED IN ABULE-ADO EXPLOSION....

A catholic boarding school was among the buildings destroyed in the explosion that rocked Abule-Ado area of Lagos State with six children and reverend sister killed in the school building. Also reported among the dead was a couple and their three children who were driving in their vehicle to church service.

The total number of caualties is yet to be ascertained as the fire is still raging on. But 17 dead bodies have been recovered on site while 25 people were being treated for injuries.

The Director General/CEO LASEMA, Dr. Olufemi Oke-Osanyimtolu, who confirmed the number of casualties, said the cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained.

We sympathise with the families that lost their loved ones to the inferno and wish the injured quick recovery. We appeal for calm and urge residents to shun fake news. Operation is still in progress. Updates will continue through the course of operation while investigations remain on going" stated Oke-Osanyintolu.

Over 50 buildings in the area including Festac Town communities were affected by the unfortunate incident. 

DEPOSED EMIR SANUSI BANISHED FROM KANO STATE...

The deposed Emir Muhammad Sanusi II has been banished from Kano state to an undisclosed destination.

The embattled Emir was driven out of the palace around 5:36 pm in a black jeep with an unidentified number. Heavy security personnel in a large number of the vehicle took the emir out of the palace.

HISTORICAL COMPARISON OF THE 14TH CENTURY PLAQUE OR THE BLACK DEATH WITH COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS....Is China Trying To Wipe Out The World?

A striking overlap exists between the path of today's viral spread and the path of the Black Death in the 1300s.

Nearly 750 years ago, Marco Polo famously undertook several voyages from Venice across the Mediterranean Sea, overland through Persia and Central Asia to the court of the great Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Yuan dynasty, which presided over perhaps the largest empire in world history. The Mongols nurtured the Silk Roads of commerce that spanned the medieval world from China to Italy—until the Black Death spread along them in the same direction, wiping out nearly half the world’s population.

It is, of course, far too soon to make such dire predictions about Covid-19. But a striking overlap exists between the path of today's viral spread and the path that emerged in the 1300s. These parallels tell us something crucial about the present state of geopolitics. Trade routes and infrastructure expand imperial influence; interruptions along them heighten awareness of our vulnerabilities. If we’re smart, we respond by creating sensible frictions to avoid being dominated by a single hegemon.

The 14th-century plague is said to have originated in China's Hubei Province, with bacteria contracted from marmots. Hebei Province bore the brunt of China’s plague fatalities, with 5 million of its residents perishing in the 1330s. Making its way westward via Silk Road merchants and caravans, the plague took several years to reach Persia, where it killed the Khan overlord Abu Said as well as half the population. In 1347, it entered Europe via Italy’s port of Genoa.

Now compare that to what we’re seeing today with Covid-19. This time around, the source of illness may have been pangolins or bats instead of marmots. It started in Wuhan, which just happens to be Hubei's capital. The coronavirus reached Iran in a couple of weeks, and so far has infected hundreds of people, even the country’s deputy health minister. Next to Iran, the next worst outbreak is in Italy, with more than 300 cases and rising quickly—and likely spreading through Europe exactly as the plague did centuries ago.

It is, perhaps no coincidence that, in the past two decades, China has been the origin of SARS, the swine flu, and now the Covid-19 coronavirus. Nor should we be surprised that Iran and Italy have emerged, once more, as waypoints for pandemic spread. What do Iran and Italy have in common today? They are two major anchors of China’s Belt and Road Initiative—also known as the 21st century’s new Silk Roads.

The head of the World Health Organization says the world is not ready for another pandemic. Many public health systems are ill-equipped and unable to impose the quarantine procedures and hygienic practices needed to curb the spread of the disease. Yet we are learning quickly, and survival is highly probable still. Singapore went from being the country with the most infections outside of China to discharging almost all infected patients from its hospitals. Its residents are still on alert, but life has returned to normal. Other societies can learn from Singapore, and adopt the discipline needed to avoid mass disruption. Unlike seven centuries ago, we have sophisticated medical treatments and technologies that make quarantines more feasible.

Even as the world continues with the essential crisis management of coronavirus, the geopolitical and economic consequences are coming into sharper focus. Firms will accelerate shifting supply chains out of China, limiting their exposure to only what they make for the Chinese market. Japanese carmakers have been doing this for over a decade, with Toyota relocating production to Thailand and Indonesia. Samsung has done the same for its smartphones, now making most of them in Vietnam. The new mantra is: Make where you sell. Don’t get too close, or depend too much, on China.

The same lesson applies to diplomacy. Rather than viewing China on a linear path to Eurasian dominance, China’s own neighbors are coming out of its shadow. Japan is gaining national confidence; India is on a military buying spree and just hosted US President Donald Trump to reaffirm the countries' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific maritime region. These nations—as well as Europe—are helping weaker Asian states stand up to China in defending their islands, avoiding its debt traps, and finding alternatives to Huawei 5G telecom systems.

Though the Chinese were once Mongol victims, modern-day China is often likened to the expansionist Mongol empire. Just as the plague decimated the Mongol khanates and splintered its grip on Eurasia, so too will the coronavirus encourage China’s vassal states to look for other partners in the geopolitical marketplace. Asia has not been dominated by a single power since the Mongols, and their place in history looks to be intact. Building more pathways of connectivity may initially appear to create more avenues for pathogens to spread, but it also allows us to circumvent trouble spots if and when they arise.

More connectivity ultimately means more resilience. For the new Silk Road to survive, it will need many paths, not one.

So this goes to my question. Is China trying to wipe out the world again?