About 50 corpses were reportedly burnt beyond recognition in the fire which started at about 6pm on Saturday, December 29. Families and relatives who deposited their loved ones were left in shock following the incident, which to many still remain a mystery as no explanations were given as to the cause of the inferno at the mortuary. There were speculations that due to the harmattan period, the fire might have stemmed from a bush burning nearby and had grown extremely wild due to the chemicals used at the mortuary for the preservation of corpses. A spokesperson for the police command, SP Haruna Mohammed confirmed the incident and appealed to the people to remain calm, noting that investigations were already underway. While admitting that the cause of the fire is still unknown, Haruna assured the people that the command will ensure that “No stone will be left unturned in order to unravel the mystery behind the incident whether it is natural or manmade. Meanwhile, Anambra sta...

The Independent National Electoral Commission has raised alarm that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would affect its preparations for the 2019 elections. On November 5, 2018, ASUU began an indefinite strike action over the failure of the Federal Government to implement three areas in the Memorandum of Action it signed with the union on September 14, 2017.   On Thursday, a National Commissioner for INEC and Chairman of its Information and  other Education Committee, Festus Okoye, expressed concerns about the effect of the ASUU  strike on the 2019 elections  during the opening of a one-day seminar on media gender sensitive reporting. The commission said that it would deploy over one million ad hoc staff made up of lecturers in federal tertiary institutions, members of the National Youth Service Corps and students of federal tertiary institutions in the elections. The categories of ad hoc staff to be used during next year’s elec...