Headlines
Earthquakes in Turkey, Syria Claims Hundreds of Lives
A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and Syria early on Monday, killing hundreds of people as they slept, levelling buildings, and sending tremors that were felt as far away as the Island of Cyprus and Egypt.
One of the largest to strike Turkey in at least a century wiped out entire sections of major cities in a region filled with millions of people who have fled the civil war in Syria and other conflicts.
The head of Syria’s National Earthquake Centre, Raed Ahmed, told pro-government radio that this was “historically, the biggest earthquake recorded in the history of the centre”.
At least 245 people died in government-controlled parts of Syria, as well as the northern areas held by pro-Turkish factions, according to the health ministry and a local hospital.
At least 284 people died in Turkey, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Monday, adding that more than 2,300 people had been injured and that search and rescue work was continuing in several major cities.
The rescue was being hampered by a winter blizzard that covered major roads in ice and snow.
Television images showed shocked people in Turkey standing in the snow in their pyjamas, watching rescuers dig through the debris of damaged homes.
– Election test for Erdogan –
The quake struck at 04:17 am local time (0117 GMT) at a depth of about 17.9 kilometres (11 miles) near the Turkish city of Gaziantep, which is home to around two million people, the US Geological Survey said.
Turkey’s AFAD emergencies service centre put the first quake’s magnitude at 7.4, adding that it was followed by more than 40 aftershocks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will be under intense pressure to oversee an effective response to the disaster heading to a tightly-contested May 14 election, conveyed his sympathies and urged national unity.
“We hope that we will get through this disaster together as soon as possible and with the least damage,” the Turkish leader tweeted.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Washington was “profoundly concerned”.
“We stand ready to provide any and all needed assistance,” Sullivan said.
The earthquake struck a restive, predominantly Kurdish area of Turkey near Syria, a country gripped by more than a decade of violence that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.
– ‘People under rubble’ –
Images on Turkish television showed rescuers digging through the rubble of levelled buildings in the city of Kahramanmaras and neighbouring Gaziantep, where entire sections of cities were destroyed.
A fire lit up the night sky in one image from Kahramanmaras, although its origin remained unclear.
Buildings also crumbled in the cities of Adiyaman, Malatya and Diyarbakir, where AFP reporters saw panicked people rush out on the street.
Kahramanmaras Governor Omer Faruk Coskun said it was too early to estimate the death toll because so many buildings were destroyed.
“It is not possible to give the number of dead and injured at the moment because so many buildings have been destroyed,” Coskun said. “The damage is serious.”
A famous mosque dating back to the 13th century partially collapsed in the province of Maltaya, where a 14-story building with 28 apartments also collapsed.
In other cities, anguished rescuers struggled to reach survivors trapped under the debris.
“We hear voices here — and over there, too,” one rescuer was overheard as saying on NTV television in front of a flattened building in the city of Diyarbakir.
“There may be 200 people under the rubble.”
– Dam warning –
The Syrian health ministry reported damage across the provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus, where Russia is leasing a naval facility.
AFP correspondents in northern Syria said terrified residents ran out of their homes after the ground shook.
Even before the tragedy, buildings in Aleppo, Syria’s pre-war commercial hub, often collapsed due to the dilapidated infrastructure after more than a decade of war as well as little oversight to ensure safety of new construction projects, some built illegally.
Naci Gorur, an earthquake expert with Turkey’s Academy of Sciences, urged local officials to immediately check the region’s dams for cracks to avert potentially catastrophic flooding.
Turkey is in one of the world’s most active earthquake zones.
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, says he has concluded plans to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) in no distant time.
He has reportedly mandated his commissioners and other appointees to either join him in the APC or resign if they are not comfortable with his decision.
A Government House source, who confirmed the development, said the governor broke the news during the State Executive Council meeting on Thursday.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said Governor Eno warned his appointees that he had nothing to negotiate with them other than for them to follow him or leave.
The governor was quoted as saying, “Anybody who claims he is not aware of my intention to leave the PDP is still living in the 18th century.
“Apart from elected officials like House of Assembly members and Local Government Chairmen, I have nothing to negotiate with you.
“Let me tell you, anybody who believes that when I leave the PDP he will use the party structure to fight me is lying, because I will still control the PDP structure.”
Eno disclosed that he is in love with the leadership style of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and, as such, would like to align with him.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman in the state, Aniekan Akpan, could not confirm the development at the time of filing this report, as his lines were busy. However, the Director of the APC Media Network, Mr. Iniobong John, confirmed the news to journalists.
John said, “It is no longer a rumour. I think there are some confirmations that the governor is defecting to the APC. Though unofficial, I can confirm that the governor is joining our party sooner or later. No official date has been confirmed yet, but all plans have been perfected for his defection to our party.”
He described the proposed defection as great news for the APC in the state and for Akwa Ibom in general, adding that the state would now be better connected to the national power center.
Daily Post
The All Progressives Congress has endorsed President Bola Tinubu as its flag bearer in the 2027 presidential elections.
The Party’s National Chairman, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, announced this on Thursday, on behalf of its National Working Committee, at its National Summit held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja.
The endorsement came hours after APC governors and lawmakers cast a vote of confidence on the president and endorsed him for a second term.
The Federal Government has filed a criminal suit against the senator representing Kogi Central, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, over comments she made on national television that were allegedly deemed defamatory.
The case, marked CR/297/25, was filed on May 16, 2025, before the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, with Akpoti-Uduaghan listed as the sole defendant.
According to court documents, the government is charging the senator under Section 391 of the Penal Code (Cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990) for allegedly “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person.”
The said comments were allegedly made during a live broadcast of Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ on April 3, 2025, where Akpoti-Uduaghan was said to have criticised unnamed individuals in a manner the government claimed was defamatory.
Count two of the charges accused Akpoti-Uduaghan of “making an imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person, contrary to Section 391 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990, and punishable under Section 392 of the same Law.
“That you, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, on or about the 3rd day of April 2025, during the same Politics Today programme on Channels Television in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, made the following imputation concerning Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State.
“It was part of the meeting, the discussions that Akpabio had with Yahaya Bello that night to eliminate me. When he met with him, he then emphasised that I should be killed, but I should be killed in Kogi.
“You knew or had reason to believe that such imputations would harm the reputation of Yahaya Adoza Bello, former Governor of Kogi State”, the charge added.
Among the witnesses lined up to testify include Senate President Godswill Akpabio and former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello, who are identified in court filings as the nominal complainants.
Other witnesses listed include Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, Sandra Duru, and police investigators Maya Iliya and Abdulhafiz Garba, who were involved in probing the matter.
The former Kogi governor had in April, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), accusing Akpoti-Uduaghan, of making defamatory statements against him.
The former Kogi governor alleged that during a homecoming event on April 1, 2025, in Okehi Local Government Area, the female lawmaker ‘maliciously’ defamed him and accused him of being involved in an assassination plot.
The case comes amid ongoing political tensions surrounding Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was suspended from the Senate earlier this year. Her suspension sparked widespread criticism and allegations of political persecution.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused Akpabio of targeting her after she rejected his alleged sexual advances, claiming that her suspension was orchestrated to silence her.
She made the allegations following the altercation over sitting arrangement in the Senate Chamber that led to Akpabio ordering the sergeant-at-arms to eject her from the chamber when she rejected the seat offered to her.
She is challenging her suspension at the Federal High Court, where the hearing has been scheduled for June 27.
Source: ICIR
