NEWS: Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Chairman of The Sun Newspapers Describes Death Of Dimgba Igwe "Tragic, Shocking"

Chairman/ Publisher, The Sun Newspapers, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has described the death of Dimgba Igwe as tragic, shocking and a dark time in the annals of journalism in Nigeria.

In a statement by Managing Director /Editor-in-Chief of the organisation, Femi Adesina, the former Abia State governor said, ”Dimgba Igwe was too much of a gentleman, fine brain and mind to die tragically like this.”

The statement reads; “Mr Igwe passed on today around 10 a.m at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) of injuries suffered from a hit-and-run driver, as he jogged in his Okota, Lagos, neighborhood.

“First aid was administered to him at St. Raphael Hospital, Ago Palace Way, before he was moved to LASUTH for surgical emergency. He did not survive.

Igwe and Mike Awoyinfa added verve to Nigerian journalism when they set up Weekend Concord in 1989.

The duo pioneered The Sun Newspapers in 2003, with Awoyinfa as Managing Director Editor-in-Chief, and Igwe as Deputy Managing Director/Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Igwe was appointed Vice Chairman of the company last year.

A prolific author and columnist, Igwe was a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

He was also Deputy General Overseer of Evangel Pentecostal Church, Okota, Lagos.

He is survived by a wife and four children!

NEWS: World Health Organization Say "Ebola Death Toll Has Passed The 1,500 Mark"

The death toll from the Ebola outbreak tearing through West Africa has passed the 1,500 mark while the number of cases has soared past 3,000, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

“The outbreak continues to accelerate,” the UN health body said in its latest update on the killer virus.

As of August 26, a total of 1,552 people had died in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria from the epidemic that reared its head at the beginning of the year, while 3,062 had become infected.

On August 20, the toll stood at 1,427 deaths out of 2,600 cases.

A separate outbreak of Ebola, one of the deadliest viruses known to man, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 13 people have died, was not included in Thursday’s tally.

“More than 40 percent of the total number of cases have occurred within the past 21 days,” WHO said, adding that most cases were concentrated in just a few localities.

It said the overall fatality rate stood at 52 percent, but varied from 66 percent in Guinea, where the outbreak began, to 42 percent in Sierra Leone.

To date, Guinea has 648 cases including 430 deaths, while Sierra Leon has seen 1,026 cases and 422 deaths.

Liberia has so far counted 1,378 cases and 694 deaths, while Nigeria has seen 17 cases and six deaths, WHO said!