This only days after frustrated US hospitals said they could not find ventilators to buy anywhere.

Donald Trump hasn’t tweeted it, but according to Nigeria’s Information Minister Lai Mohammed it’s official.

In a telephone conversation the US President told his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari that he stood in solidarity with the Nigerian people at this time of COVID 19..

He promised send ventilators to Nigeria to help COVID 19 patients breathe.

His willingness to do this will have to be gauged by officials.

America’s ability to keep the promise becomes a matter for the hard-pressed medical professionals — and the fact checkers.

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The operation in Nigeria’s north western state of Zamfra bordering on Niger also recovered five abductees captured for ransom by the bandits.

Nigerian military spokesman General John Enenchie says the five hostages and hundreds of cattle will be formally returned to families and owners.

He says a number of rifles were also taken from the rustlers.

Kidnapping and cattle rustling are a persistent problem in Zamfra and the neighboring state of Kaduna.

Locals have formed vigilante groups to beat off the bandits.

The area is plagued by attacks from Boko Haram jihadists who move freely across the border into Niger.

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His rooms was broken into, racists slurs were uttered during his services and his car tires were slashed.

The last straw was a death threat posted on his door.

The racist taunts started shortly after Patrick Asomugha became parish priest in in Queidersbach three years ago.

He made several calls for reconciliation and more than 600 people attended a solidarity mass he presided over against racism in his parish.

The Vicar General of the Speyer diocese said it was not right to subject him to further threats and buse.

Asomugha says he regrets he can no longer fulfill his duties as pastor.

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The Nigerian Medical Association calls deployment of the Chinese specialists demeaning to the morale of Nigerian medical staff fighting the pandemic under the most deplorable conditions.

The 15 Chinese medics were warmly greeted by Nigerian officials  when they arrived at Abuja Airport.

Their month-long deployment to advise local medical staff on fighting COVID19 is part of a China’s soft-power push from the country where the pandemic started.

They arrived with tons of medical equipment.

The largest Nigerian doctors association called it a thing of embarrassment.

The doctors have treated with suspicion the gift of medical and protective equipment from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma earlier this month. Some have expressed the belief that the masks, gowns and testing kits sent by Ma are contaminated with COVID 19.

Nigeria’s recorded six deaths from the 254 confirmed COVID 19 infections.

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They say the Abuja government has committed tom meet their demands.

ends intro

The doctors say they won’t hesitate to down stethoscopes if the authorities victimize any of their members for taking industrial action.

Spokesman Dr Saidu Alhassan says government has shown genuine interest in their plight.

They had no option but to to on strike because of their poor working conditions and the dangers they face as first responders in the CORONAVIRUS pandemic that that sickened a dozen people in Nigeria

This has  caused the government to close its borders to travelers from 13 high-risk countries including Britain, the United States, China and Japan.

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The stricter measures apply from today to citizens from Africa’s most populous country.

ends intro

The Trump administration says Nigeria is not complying with security and information sharing demands from Washington.

Nigeria is one of 13 countries -most of them with Muslim majorities – receiving harsher treatment from the US.

Interior Minister Ogbeni Aregbesola pleaded with the US Ambassador in Abuja Mary Beth Leonard.

Her says as a close ally Nigeria does not deserve such treatment and assures her his government has addressed most of the UN misgivings.

Leonard’s response to the appeal is not know but she told the minister the US is determined to continue collaboration with Nigeria.

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It found that a senior police officer implicated in the 2014 death of a tortured suspect is still serving .

BBC Africa  Eye has several video clips of detainees, including children, tortured by a method known as tabay.

It involves binding the arms behind the back adding weight to increase the pain.

Nigerian soldiers learned it while serving as peacekeepers in Sierra Leone 20 years ago.

Torture is illegal in Nigeria but the perpetrators of tabay appear to be able to harm suspects with impunity.

The BBC is showing footage of torture with a warning to viewers that they are about to see scenes that might be too shocking for some of them

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The dead include a pregnant woman and a baby.

The militants, believed to be from Boko Haram, arrived in trucks and  set fire to the cars filled with travelers.

Borno state governor Babagana Umara Zulum  was shocked at the sight of the charred corpses in the 18 burned-out vehicles that included a truck full of food.

An undisclosed  number of women and children were abducted.

The incident gives the lie to President Muhammadu Buhari’s claim to have defeated Boko Haram whose 11 year insurgency in northeast Nigeria has left more than 35 000 people dead and two million homeless. 

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By contrast, President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria’s dropping visa restrictions to build its talent pool by attract innovation, specialist skills and knowledge from abroad.

Speaking after talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama says the immigration ban on his compatriots was announced as he was preparing for talks on expanding  bilateral co-operation.

He says US officials assured him the ban would be lifted.

He’s working to ease US security concerns which largely led to the  immigrant ban by sharing information about immigrants’ criminal behaviour, stolen passports and suspected links with terrorism 

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The money will be used for infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

Abubaker Malami will sign agreements with the Island of New Jersey and the US government to recoup the money salted away by Sani Abachar.

Nigeria has in the past managed to get money that the kleptocratic military ruler had hidden in Switzerland on condition that it is properly accounted for.

The Attorney General and Justice Minister said before leaving Abuja for Washington that the money would be used to fund the building of two railroads and a bridge in Nigeria.

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