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Amosun Notifies Senate of Intention to Contest 2023 Presidential Election
A former Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has notified the Senate of his intention to contest for president in the 2023 general elections on the platform of the All Progressives Congress.
Amosun is a known confidant of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), as both of them were in the defunct All Nigerians Peoples Party, one of the legacy parties that formed the APC.
President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, read out Amosun’s notice at the opening of plenary on Wednesday.
Amosun presently represents Ogun Central Senatorial District after being governor for two terms between 2011 and 2019.
According to the notice addressed to Lawan, official declaration of his presidential bid is to hold on Thursday next week in Abuja.
The notice partly read, “I bring you warm greetings from my family, my constituents, the entire people of Ogun State, and my support groups across Nigeria.
“It is with the greatest respect that I write to notify you and my Distinguished Colleagues of my intention to contest for the Office of President of our dear country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to respectfully invite you and my Distinguished Colleagues to the formal declaration ceremony.
“I have been blessed by God to serve as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria between 2003 and 2007 and as a two-term Governor of Ogun State between 2011 and 2019. I have also had the privilege to be elected a second time to the Senate of the Federal Republic in 2019 where I currently serve the good people of Ogun Central Senatorial District.
“My varied experience in private and public life has imbued me with requisite insights, experiences and network of relationships adequate to provide a leadership that will galvanize our dear country to achieve her manifest destiny as leader in Africa and of the black race.
“I will be honoured with your esteemed presence and that of my Distinguished Colleagues at the Declaration event which is scheduled as follows: Date: Thursday 05 May, 2022. Time: 11.00am. Venue: Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, CBD, Abuja, FCT.
“I seek the prayers of all of you for a successful declaration ceremony, victory at the party primaries and the 2023 presidential election.”
The Punch
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
