Headlines
No Connection to Atiku, Obi Presidential Election Petitions, Supreme Court Reacts to Fire Outbreak
By Eric Elezuo
The apex Nigerian court, the Supreme Court, has said that fire incident which occurred in a portion of its building on Monday morning has no connection to the presidential election petitions filed by the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi, contrary to insinuations.
Speaking during an interview on Arise TV shortly after the fire was reported, the Public Relations Officer of the Supreme Court, Festus Akande, stated that the fire outbreak has no connection with the petition in court.
He noted that the fire outbreak affected a chamber with a computer, equipment and functional library due to an electrical fault.
He said, “As a matter of fact, there’s no single connection, and it won’t affect anything in the court.
“This incident occurred in a chamber equipped with a computer and other equipment, as well as a functional library used by any justice occupying such chamber.
“The only thing that was affected were the books and computer equipment in the chamber. Even the books are replaceable.
“Also, it has nothing to do with it because it was from an electrical fault, which could happen anywhere, and there are things that happen daily.”
Fire on Monday gutted a section of the chambers of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Mohammed Saulawa.
Witnesses said it took the timely intervention of the court’s and the federal fire services to put out the fire suspected to have started in the chambers located on the third floor of the sprawling court complex.
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.”
