Headlines
PDP Will Win 25 States in 2023 Election – Ayu
The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyorchia Ayu, on Sunday boasted that the party would win 25 of the 36 states in the coming general elections.
He promised that the party was ready to give a good fight in the 2022 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States.
Ayu stated this during a thanksgiving service and reception held in his honour at the Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi, Benue.
He said, “We are determined to reclaim at least 25 states in the country. We will stop the drift of people who migrated from PDP to other parties, we shall move on a serious drive for more people in the party.
“Every single member of the PDP will be carried along. It is the only way we shall rebuild our party. The PDP will fight tooth and nail to win Ekiti and Osun elections. Those mistakes which made us lose the election in the past will be corrected.”
The new national chairman predicted the collapse of the ruling All Progressives Congress in 2023, describing the party as a ‘contraption’.
He said that Nigeria would not disintegrate but will remain united, respected and would be at the forefront of world affairs.
Earlier, the Catholic Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, delivered a homily during the service which was attended by four governors from Rivers, Delta, Enugu and Benue States.
Meanwhile, Rivers State Governor, Nyeson Wike, has admonished the new national chairman to unite all the governors in the party for victory in the 2023 general elections.
“Let nobody distract you at all. Be focused, do not listen to those who will come to tell you that governors want to hijack the party but they are dividing and ruling. They are killing the party,” Wike said.
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.”
