Headlines
We’ve Not Joined APC, Atiku Support Groups Refute False Report
Support groups of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, have denied reports that they joined the All Progressives Congress.
The Atiku Support Organisation, on behalf of the groups, made this known in a statement sighted by The Punch on Monday.
Signed by the ASO National Publicity Secretary, Victor Moses, the statement noted that such reports were false.
It read, “It has come to our attention of a fake story concocted by APC goons and making the rounds that some Atiku Support Groups have ditched the PDP for a dying APC.
“We wish to state clearly and unambiguously that the story is false and nothing but propaganda from the camp of the dementia-infested group of people of the APC and should be disregarded.
“Atiku groups are as solid as the rock and like a fine wine, we keep getting better and growing in number every day.
“The APC is a dead party that will cease to exist beginning in 2023. So, what business does the living has to do with the dead?
“By every indices, the APC has plunged Nigeria into a disaster and February 25th, 2023 will be judgment day.
“The forthcoming 2023 presidential election will be a referendum on the dementia-infested and cocaine-trafficking camp of the APC.
“Nigerians will among others decide between agents of light and agents of darkness, between a bag of rice at N7000 in 2015 under PDP and N50,000 in 2022 under the APC, between PMS at N67 under PDP and N300 under the APC, between $100 minimum wage under the PDP in 2015 and $40 minimum wage under the APC in 2022.
“Nigerians now know better. Only an Atiku Abubakar presidency can and will deliver Nigeria and usher us on the path of prosperity.
“Therefore, the APC should note that no amount of propaganda can save the party from defeat in all elections and at all levels.”
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.”
