The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the Buhari Presidency’s response to public uproar over the visit of the APC candidate in the Edo governorship election, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, is an acceptance that the APC candidate is corrupt as alleged.

The party says the response by the Buhari Presidency also reinforced allegations by the sacked national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, that the APC candidate is a person of questionable character who is unfit to hold office as governor of Edo state.

The PDP in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan notes that with its defence and endorsement of a person it is prosecuting for corruption, the Buhari Presidency has confirmed that it is not fighting corruption, contrary to its promises, but had become a safe haven for corrupt persons.

The PDP said it is berating the Buhari Presidency for referring to unrelated cases and struggling to justify its widely condemned endorsement of an individual it is prosecuting for corruption.

READ ALSO: Crisis In Edo State, An Embarrassment To Nigerian Democracy – Ekweremadu

“By its response, the Buhari Presidency has turned itself into a defender of corruption and advocate for persons charged for corrupt acts in our country.

“Yet, this is Presidency that claimed to have zero tolerance for corruption; pretended that it cannot eat with corrupt people with the longest of spoons, only to be found struggling to justify why it is swimming in an ocean of corruption.

“Moreover, beyond the case in court, this is an individual, that APC former national chairman had openly described as a thief, treasury looter, acid bather and who, according to Oshiomhole, is only fit for “night meetings” and not for the position of the governor of Edo state.

“The PDP said such stance by the Buhari Presidency is an assault on the sensibilities of the people of Edo state, who have openly registered their rejection of Ize-Iyamu.

“Furthermore, our party notes the absence of President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and other top officials of the APC administration at Ize-Iyamu’s campaign flag-off, apparently to dissociate themselves and the government from his baggage of corruption allegation,” the PDP stated.

According to the party, this last-minute stunt has exposed the pretence of Buhari Presidency towards the fight against corruption and further exposed Ize-Iyamu as described by Oshiomhole.

The PDP said it is imperative to place on record that the people of Edo state have already made up their minds to reelect Governor Godwin Obaseki, come September 19.

The former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has described the political crises in Edo state as an embarrassment and an affront to Nigerian democracy.

Senator Ekweremadu was speaking on the sideline of the Enugu Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) congress to elect new executives of the party at the state level.

According to Mr. Ekweremadu, the people of Edo state should be given the opportunity to exercise their franchise and elect who they want as their leader.

Ekweremadu called on all the players irrespective of party affiliation to desist from any act that will threaten the young democracy of Nigerian.

READ ALSO: Edo Assembly Crisis: PDP Berates Tinubu For Comments Against Obaseki

“What is happening in Edo State is an affront in democracy, I believe this is not supposed to be so.

“The people should be allowed to decide who their leader should be and that is the difference between democracy and other forms of government.

“So, the issue and attitude of bringing in thugs, bringing in security men to come and determine the will of the people is anti-democracy, I cannot support that kind of attitude.

“I want to appeal to all the players in Edo State, both PDP, APC, and other political parties, to give peace a chance and allow the good people of Edo State to elect their leaders.

“Unless we do that, we are undermining our democracy,” Ekweremadu told newsmen.

READ ALSO: Presidency Should Return To South In 2023 – El-Rufai

The crisis in Edo state ahead of the gubernatorial election is deepening, with the situation moving from the exchange of banters by political rivals, to threats of assassination.

Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu at a press briefing on Saturday said there is a plot to assassinate high-profile personalities in the state.

Mr. Shaibu noted that the state government has gathered intelligence suggesting that some individuals are in Edo state and their assignment is to assassinate certain known individuals.

“I am hereby bringing to the notice of the general public that these people are in town and we’ve communicated to the security agencies about their activities and why they are in town,” Shaibu stated at the briefing.

The deputy governor called on President Muhammadu Buhari to charge security agencies to “do their work because Edo will not be a theatre of war if these things are dealt with.”

The Edo State Deputy Governor, Philip Shaibu, has made allegations of a plot to assassinate high-profile personalities in the state.

Mr. Shaibu said this on Saturday during a press briefing in Benin-city.

“We have intelligence that some individuals are in Edo state and their assignment is to come and assassinate some known individuals in the state.

“So I am hereby bringing to the notice of the general public that these people are in town and we’ve communicated to the security agencies about their activities and why they are in town.”

Shaibu called on President Muhammadu Buhari to charge security agencies to “do their work because Edo will not be a theatre of war if these things are dealt with.”

“For us, we will continue to appeal to our people not to look for trouble,” the Deputy-Governor continued, ” not to disturb any program. We are law-abiding. We have a duty to protect lives and properties. That we will continue to do.”

COVID-19 cases in Nigeria rose by 453 on Saturday, pushing the country’s total confirmed cases to 46,140. Six more deaths were recorded for the day, lifting the death toll from 936 to 942.

The new cases are spread across 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Data from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control showed that the FCT led new cases for the day with 75, followed closely by the country’s pandemic epicentre Lagos with 71 cases.

Benue witnessed a spike in cases with 53 new infections reported, Delta and Borno saw 39 and 30 cases respectively with Enugu recording 25 new cases.

Plateau State saw 24 more cases, Osun – 20, Abia – 19, Oyo -17, Kaduna 16, while Kano and Ebony confirmed 13 new cases each.

Other states with new cases are Ogun – 9, Kwara – 7, Ondo – 6, Gombe – 3, Ekiti – 2, Akwa Ibom – 1,  Rivers – 1.

453 new cases of #COVID19Nigeria;

FCT-75 Lagos-71 Benue-53 Delta-39 Borno-30 Enugu-25 Plateau-24 Osun-20 Abia-19 Oyo-17 Kaduna-16 Kano-13 Ebonyi-13 Ogun-9 Kwara-7 Ondo-6 Gombe-3 Ekiti-2 Akwa Ibom-1 Rivers-1

46,140 confirmed 33,044 discharged 942 deaths pic.twitter.com/2DrEcdQTN5

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) August 8, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to spread in the country despite efforts to stop it spread with death toll also edging up.

On Saturday, former Senator Buruji Kashamu joined the list of prominent Nigerians who have lost their lives to the pandemic. They including Mr Abba Kyari who until his death was the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari and former governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi.

READ ALSO: Former Senator, Buruji Kashamu Dies Of COVID-19

Despite the continued spread of the pandemic, the country has reported fewer cases in the month of August, compared to June and July when cases averaged more than 500 daily, exceeding 600 several times and hitting 745 on June 18.

The Government has extended a phase of eased lockdown by six weeks now. During that time, it has shortened a night curfew that initially lasted from 8 pm to 6 am by four hours. The curfew now lasts from 10 pm to 4 am.

Also, domestic flights have resumed and, this week, schools resumed for exit classes with churches and mosques reopening.

Concerns continue to be raised about the level of testing, however, as the country has tested less than 500,000 persons. As of Saturday night, 314,632 tests have been carried out.

Africa’s Cases Tops One Million

COVID-19 cases in Africa have exceeded one million with hopes that the pandemic may be peaking in some countries mingled with fears of a second wave.

As of 1100 GMT on Friday, an AFP tally put total infections in nations across the continent at 1,011,495 infections with at least 22,115 deaths. Africa’s cases accounted for around five percent of global cases.

Just five countries – South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, and Ethiopia – account for 75% of all cases, says the continent’s health watchdog the Africa Centres for Diseases Control.

Some countries have recently seen declines of around 20 percent in daily cases but it is too early to confirm this as a trend, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“African countries are doing their best, despite… limitations,” such as weak health systems, Mary Stephen of the WHO Africa office, told AFP Friday.

She, however, warned against the public complacency that can develop in prolonged outbreaks.

“Because we don’t see many people like we used to see in Italy, like 1,000 people dying (a day), people tend to relax, they think the risk is not so much in Africa”.

“We need to avoid complacency,” she said in a phone interview from Brazzaville.

Countries with high infections relative to the size of their populations include South Africa, Djibouti, Gabon, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome and Principe.  East African nations Rwanda and Uganda have managed to significantly slow down transmission, while Mauritius has flattened the curve.

South Africa tops Africa in terms of infections with more than 538,184 cases as of Friday. This is more than half of the continental caseload, and the fifth-biggest in the world.

Numbers of daily infections have slightly decreased in recent days to below 10,000 cases — compared to an average 12,000 during much of July.

Egypt, which is the first African country to report a coronavirus case (February 14) has the continent’s second-highest number of cases at 95,006, including 4,630 deaths as of Friday.

Numbers of daily new infections have recently been falling steadily. From an average of 1,500 previously, new cases plunged below 200 this week.

A curfew imposed in March was lifted at the end of June.

Regular domestic and international air traffic resumed on July 1 and tourism, a key income generator for Egypt, is slowly picking up.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, follows Egypt with more than 45,000 cases and more than 930 deaths.

In June, the caseload rose each day by between 500 and 800 but the pace has dropped more recently to between 300 and 400.

“New rise in cases are to be expected,” said the chief of the presidential task force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha.

Nigeria carries out only 3,000 tests per day, about a tenth of the number in South Africa, which has a much smaller population of 58 million.

Algerians spent a bleak Eid-al-Adha festival under a strict lockdown that discouraged family visits and banned movement into or out of 29 of the country’s 48 wilayas (prefectures).

The nation is the fourth worst-hit in Africa in terms of infections — a surge in the past few weeks has brought the total to over 33,626.

Algeria has the continent’s third-highest number of fatalities at 1,273, after South Africa and Egypt.

The pandemic has taken a huge toll on the country’s economy, which is also impacted by the collapse in fossil-fuel prices.

Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous country, has seen a sharp upward trend with infections doubling in less than three weeks in July.

It has so far recorded more than 20,900 cases and over 365 deaths.

The figures are small relative to a population of 110 million, but the WHO frets unrest sparked by the killing of a pop star from the Oromo ethnic group could further accelerate transmission.

The upward spiral is coinciding with mounting signs of virus fatigue.

Once-ubiquitous hand-washing stations are becoming scarcer, hitherto-empty restaurants are filling up, and even some health workers say they are struggling to maintain the same vigilance they had in March.

Around three-quarters of all COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia are in the capital Addis Ababa.