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Steven Davis. Photo: Yahoo Negotiator Dr. Stephen Davis believes Boko Haram might make a move to establish contact with the world terrorist groups Al Shabaab and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and alleges the insurgents are sponsored by some Nigerian politicians. According to Punch, while Al Shabaab has taken over most of Southern Somalia in 2006, the Iraqi ISIS along with Al-Qaeda is considered the most violent Jihadist group in the world. Experts continue comparing Boko Haram strategy with the one of the most dreaded international terrorist groups and now Davis, allegedly  secretly hired by President Goodluck Jonathan in the past to negotiate on the release of Chibok girls , comments on the sect tactics. Who is Dr. Stephen Davis? The 63-year-old Australian expert had acted as a negotiator not only in the Chibok issue, but also as an adviser for Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’Adua. Davis spent...

A prototype drug that has been urgently given to a handful of patients with Ebola has cleared an important test hurdle, showing that it cured lab monkeys with the disease, scientists said Friday. Normally, experimental drugs are tested first on animals and then on progressively larger groups of humans to ensure they are safe and effective. But, in an exceptional move, a new drug called ZMapp that has not gone through these tests has been rushed to the outbreak in west Africa, as the lethal disease has no cure. Reporting online in the British journal Nature, researchers at the Public Health Agency of Canada said 18 rhesus macaque monkeys given high doses of Ebola virus fully recovered after being given ZMapp, even when it was administered five days after infection. It reversed dangerous symptoms such as bleeding, rashes and high levels of enzymes in the liver. Three “control” monkeys that had been infected, but not treated, all died within eight days. The 21 anim...

Vice President Namadi Sambo The Federal Government Friday intervened in the bloody clashes in oil rich border communities of Anambra and Kogi States, which had killed several people. Towards resolving the dispute, Vice President Namadi Sambo presided over a meeting behind closed-doors and attended by representatives of the two state governments and the National Boundary Commission (NBC). Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State said that a lot of progress has been made in the attempt to resolve the matter. Expressing hope that the matter would be resolved by the end of the year, he said the NBC is tracing the boundary of the affected areas. According to him, every effort is being made to maintain peace and tranquillity in his state. The Anambra State Deputy Governor, Mr. Nkem Okeke, also said the resolution of the crisis was foremost on the mind of the governor, Willie Obiano, whom he sa...

Senegal’s health ministry has confirmed a first case of Ebola, making it the fifth West African country to be affected by the outbreak, the BBC reports. Health Minister Awa Marie Coll Seck told reporters on Friday that a young man from Guinea was confirmed to have contracted the virus. The man was immediately placed in quarantine, she added. The current outbreak, which began in Guinea, has killed more than 1,500 people across the region. At least 3,000 people have been infected with the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned it could get much worse and infect more than 20,000 people. Senegal had previously closed its border with Guinea in an attempt to halt the spread of Ebola, but its frontiers are porous. It had also banned flights and ships from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – the three worst-hit countries. But the Guinean health services reported on Wednesday “the disappearance of a person infected with Ebola who reportedly trav...