Headlines
We Brought You from Gutter to Make You Chairman, Wike Replies Ayu
In his usual style, the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has come down hard on the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Iyorchia Ayu, warning the former Senate President not be an ingrate as he was brought from the gutter to become the party’s National Chairman.
Wike was speaking on Thursday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Ayu, who many political analysts have described as “a spent force who was in political limbo” had granted an interview to BBC Hausa on Wednesday after the reception for former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, who re-joined the PDP.
He had emerged Chairman after a long absence from the political space. Wike was credited with his emergence after an official visit to the state when it was concluded that Uche Secondus would go as the party’s National Chairman.
He alongside the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, pushed for his emergence, which worked.
Ayu said, “When we started the PDP journey, we did not see these children. They are children who do not know why we established this party,” he had said.
“We will not allow one person to come and destroy our party.”
But as he is wont to do, the governor replied Ayu while inaugurating roads in Ikwerre LGA of the state, warning Ayu that he should not be an ingrate.
“You can imagine what power can do. You can imagine how ingratitude — how people can be ingrates in their lives,” Wike said.
“I thought as a chairman of a party who wants to win elections, your business is to bring peace to your party; your business is not to divide your party. Your business is not to show arrogance to your party.
“Yes, the children brought you to be chairman of the party. The children brought you from the gutter to make you chairman.
“Ayu, you were impeached as senate president. Ayu, you were sacked by Obasanjo in his administration. Arrogance cannot take you anywhere.
“Now, we have seen that you don’t want the party to win the election. We will help you.
“These children — these people you call boys — brought you from nothing.”
He accused Ayu of sitting pretty as chairman because of the billions of naira in the PDP coffers which were made from the sale of forms during the party’s primary elections.
The Whistler
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.”
