Civil Defence boss escapes assassination

The Commandant-General, C-G, of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Dr Ade Abolurin, Friday, escaped an attempt on his life as a police Inspector opened fire on his team at Ikorodu, Lagos.

Dr. Abolurin’s team comprising officers of the Nigerian Army, EFCC, ICPC, office of the Attorney General of the Federation among others, came under siege during an inspection and assessment tour of disposable forfeited items seized from suspected oil thieves.

NSCDC’s spokesman, Mr. Emmanuel Okeh, said in a statement in Abuja, Friday, “the attack was orchestrated by the arrest of some suspected vandals and oil thieves on the waters in possession of petroleum products in several jerry cans, including two big Cotonou boats.
The suspected police team who came in an unmarked danfo bus carrying AK47 riffles challenged the CG that they are in charge, so, he has no right to visit the area because it belongs to the police.
“The committee which the CG, NSCDC is the chairman was constituted by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and have for some time now been on assessment tour of the country for disposable forfeited items used for vandalism of critical infrastructure.

However, attempt by members of the committee to caution the officer was rebuffed by him and members of his team claiming that they are on a mission here so everyone should steer clear.
“Further investigation reveals that a distress call was put across to the suspected police team by the arrested vandals and upon arrival, their aim was to set them off the hook of NSCDC by threatening to shoot the CG who masterminded the arrest of their partners in this illicit business and secondly to prevent the committee from confiscating the recovered items which has become exhibits in event of prosecution”.

He added that it was however unclear if the suspected officer was working on a written script by a superior authority or just acting in his own capacity as one of the arrested vandals was in police uniform.
“What is however clear is that, this is the umpteenth time that officers and men of the corps has been brazenly harassed, molested, assassinated or maimed by officers of the Nigeria police in recent time in the cause of carrying out their legitimate assignments. Still fresh in our memory is the killing of two men of the anti vandal squad of the Lagos state command of NSCDC namely AIC Gabriel Adaji and IC Innocent Akegbe by the police in 2013”, the spokesman said.

He clarified that the Act establishing the NSCDC was unequivocal in its assignment of the duty of protection of critical infrastructure of government and national assets to the corps with tremendous record of achievement by the organization as evident in the various arrest of vandals in different parts of the country and prosecution of same to serve as deterrent to others .

Mr. Okey said that the corps was determined to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts in ensuring constant supply of petroleum products, uninterrupted power supply among others was actualized.

Ebola Outbreak: I’m Sorry For Nigeria And The Adedavohs’ Pain – Patrick Sawyer’s Widow Laments

Mrs. Decontee Sawyer

Widow of the late Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, the man who brought the deadly Ebola disease to Nigeria, Mrs. Decontee Sawyer, yesterday said that she shared the pains of the family of Dr Ameyo Stella Adedavoh, the female doctor who attended to Sawyer. Responding to an email query by our correspondent, Mrs. Sawyer added that it was painful that the late Sawyer caused so much damage in both his country Liberia and Nigeria with the Ebola virus.

Mrs Sawyer said: “I share the pains that the family members of the Nigerian doctor are going through. It is just a pity that Patrick had to cause this damage both in Liberia and Nigeria.” Speaking in a letter obtained by our correspondent yesterday, Mrs Sawyer, a resident of Minnesota, USA, apologised for the seeming heartlessness of her open letter, asking Nigerians to be mindful of her daughters, and not curse the Sawyer name, even if they curse Patrick Sawyer.
The US-based widow of the first Ebola victim in Nigeria opened up on their private life, and how Mr Sawyer moved in with another woman in Liberia, abandoning her while she was seven-month pregnant. She blamed what she termed ‘bigmanism’ for the decayed health system of Liberia and the high number of deaths in the country. “I want to reach out to them and express how deeply saddened and sorry I am for their loss and their pain. I do apologise if my words have cost anyone who is grieving more pain. I fall on my knees and ask God for his healing power for all of those who are still infected with Ebola.”

“I pray for all of the families whose loved ones were taken away by this merciless killer Ebola, especially those affected by Patrick’s actions. Ebola didn’t start with Patrick in Liberia, as we both know. Ebola was in Liberia from a traveller from Guinea since February of this year. The government knew about it and did nothing. Many Liberians, including me, called out to the government then to close the borders. They didn’t do so until one of their own, Patrick (Sawyer), died in July.”
“Many people died before Patrick and their lives were just as important. That is my frustration. Ebola didn’t have to go to Nigeria, Africa’s most populated country, had the Liberian government taken drastic actions sooner. I, too, have family members and friends in Nigeria, and now they are at risk because of Patrick’s actions. In spite of my anger and disappointment with him, I don’t believe that he did this with evil intent (I could be wrong). I believe his actions were that of a desperate man. And sad for everyone involved, Nigeria was closer than the U.S. This is just my take on what he could have been thinking (of course, I could be wrong).”

“My regret is that I was so caught up in my own pain and frustration, that I neglected to see the pain of the innocent people both in Liberia and Nigeria who are affected by Patrick’s actions. For that, I am deeply sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was to cause them pain. It is a pain I know. It is a pain I don’t want them to have.” Decontee, a mother of three, further said that she couldn’t apologize for Patrick’s actions because she did not cause them, stressing that the late Ebola victim did a lot of things she did not like. She added that: “Going to Nigeria was one of them. His act was one of a desperate man. Many Nigerians and Liberians are affected because of that act of desperation,” she said.

STATE OF EMERGENCY ON EBOLA

President Goodluck Jonathan declared a national state of emergency on Friday over the Ebola outbreak in Africa’s most populous country, and approved 1.9 billion naira ($11.7 million) of emergency funds to contain it.

Nigeria has confirmed seven cases of Ebola in its commercial capital Lagos since a man fell sick on arrival from Liberia, two of whom have died. Several dozen people who came into contact with the man are under surveillance.

Jonathan’s spokesman Reuben Abati said the money would pay to “strengthen steps to contain the virus such as … additional isolation centers, case management, contact tracing, deployment of additional personnel, screening at borders, and the procurement of required items and facilities”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that West Africa’s Ebola epidemic constituted an international health emergency and the virus, which has killed nearly 1,000 people, could continue spreading for months.

The prospect of Ebola in Lagos, Africa’s biggest city with 21 million people, has ratcheted up alarm about its spread.

Jonathan warned against “spreading false information about Ebola which can lead to mass hysteria, panic and misdirection, including unverified suggestions about the prevention, treatment, cure and spread of the virus.”

He also urged religious leaders to avoid holding large gatherings that might spread the virus, a reference to the many “megachurches” that can draw tens of thousands of faithful from around the West Africa region to their services.

He asked schools to extend their summer holidays and “urged that the movement of corpses from one community to the other, and from overseas into the country should be stopped forthwith”.

All deaths from sickness should be reported to the authorities, he added. The state of emergency is expected to stay in place until the outbreak is contained.

EBOLA Virsu Alert... What You need to know

In order to help our Embassy Community better understand some of the key points about the Ebola virus we have consulted with our medical specialists at the U S State Department and assembled this list of bullet points worded in plain language for easy comprehension. Our medical specialists remind everyone that they should be following the guideline from the center for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation.

§  The suspected reservoirs for Ebola are fruit bats.

§  Transmission to humans is thought to originate from infected bats or primates that have become infected by bats.

§  Undercooked infected bat and primate (bush) meat transmits the virus to humans.

§  Human to human transmission is only achieved by physical contact with a person who is acutely and gravely ill from the Ebola virus or their body fluids.

§  Transmission among humans is almost exclusively among caregiver family members or health care workers tending to the very ill.

§  The virus is easily killed by contact with soap, bleach, sunlight, or drying. A washing machine will kill the virus in clothing saturated with infected body fluids.

§  A person can incubate the virus without symptoms for 2-21 days, the average being 5-8 days before becoming ill. THEY ARE NOT CONTAGIOUS until they are acutely ill.

§  Only when ill does the viral load express itself first in the blood and then in other bodily fluids (to include vomit, feces, urine, breast milk, semen and sweat).

§  If you are walking around you are not infectious to others.

§  There are documented cases from Kikwit, DRC of an Ebola outbreak in a village that had the custom of children never touching an ill adult. Children living for days in small one room huts with parents who died from Ebola did not become infected.

§  You cannot contract Ebola by handling money, buying local bread or swimming in a pool.

§  There is no medical reason to stop flights, close borders, restrict travel or close embassies, businesses or schools.

§  As always practice good hand washing techniques, but you will not contract Ebola if you do not touch a dying person.

US EMBASSY