Headlines
Tinubu Accepts Lalong’s Resignation As Labour Minister
President Bola Tinubu has accepted the resignation of the Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, according tobthethe Presidency.
Lalong will now proceed to the National Assembly as Senator representing Plateau South Senatorial, a seat he won as affirmed by an appeal court ruling dated November 7, 2023.
“Lalong has resigned. But it was not at the FEC meeting itself. It must have been after the meeting because, if it were earlier, the President or SGF would have announced it during the meeting,” a presidential aide told our correspondent.
The former Plateau State Governor is due to be sworn in later this week by Senate President Godswill Akpabio, it was gathered.
Lalong served as Director-General of the Tinubu Campaign Organisation in the months leading to the February Presidential election.
He ran for the Senate office but lost, according to results by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
However, he challenged the result in court and won at the Court of Appeal.
It was gathered that Lalong, a lawyer and two-term Speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly, tendered his resignation privately to the President after last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council meeting at the State House.
Confirming this, a Twitter user in the President’s camp, Imran Mohammad said, “President Tinubu, Accepted Minister of Labour and Employment, Simon Lalong, Resignation from the cabinet, his valedictory will hold next FEC meeting.”
However, our correspondent confirmed that there would be no FEC meeting this week, making last Wednesday’s meeting Lalong’s likely final appearance as a council member.
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.”
