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Stop Shifting Your Responsibilities to Govs, Wike Lashes Out at Buhari
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, says it is unconstitutional for the President Muhammadu Buhari to shift his constitutional responsibility of securing lives and property of Nigerians to state governors.
The governor, in a statement by his media aide, Kelvin Ebiri, said the President is the Commander- In-Chief of the Armed Forces and cannot declare that governors are in charge of security in their respective states.
Wike, who spoke at the inauguration of the 21-kilometre Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road in the Etche Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, said such a position suggested that the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government lacked strategies on how to tackle insecurity in the country.
He stated, “Mr President, you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. You appoint Inspector General of Police. You appoint the Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, the commissioners of police, the Director of Department of State Services and other heads of security.
“Which one do we appoint? How can people appointed by Mr. President be under me?”
“It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must, also, be in charge of other things including security. Who signed order 10? Is it the governors? It is not when things are going bad concerning security, and you say you’re not in charge, and it becomes governors’ responsibility,” he stated.
Wike advised the APC-led Federal Government to agree that it could no longer fulfil promises made to Nigerians.
He said, “Mr President was short of calling names of those governors who run to Aso Rock when they are supposed to stay in their states to see the needs of their states and people.
“Mr President should have come out openly and said, ‘my APC governors, stop worrying me. Go back to your states and do your work.’ On that, I support him.
“Thank God, Mr President knows that I am not one of those that go to visit him over one problem or the other. I, as the governor of Rivers under the PDP, you’ll never find me there,” Wike said.
Former Senate President, Senator David Mark, who performed the inauguration of the road, noted the excitement on the faces of residents who were directly impacted by the project.
He said, “I told him I’ll be here because he loves his people. Politics and democracy is not about enriching one or two persons within a community. The Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road is project that will outlive everybody in this place. The legacy you’re leaving behind, Rivers people will not forget you. They will defend you, they’ll protect you and they will stand by you always.
Providing the description of the project, Rivers State Commissioner for Works, Elloka Tasie-Amadi, said Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road connects part of Etcheland to Omerelu, Apani and Omademe communities in neighbouring Ikwerre Local Government Area, and onwards to Imo State.
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.”
