Headlines
Wike: Buhari Won’t Sign Electoral Act Amendment, APC Plots Rigging
Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike has said it was doubtful if the President Muhammadu Buhari will assent to the Electoral Act, as amended by the National Assembly.
He expressed this reservation while speaking on an African Independent Television programme, monitored in Port Harcourt, on Thursday.
Wike wondered why the president would be seeking advice from the Independent National Electoral Commission on a law that has been passed by the National Assembly.
This was contained in a statement signed by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri.
The governor also expressed confidence that although the selection process will be tough, the Peoples Democratic Party would present a credible candidate capable of winning the 2023 Presidential election.
Ebiri quoted Wike as saying, “Let nobody come and tell you that in arriving at a presidential candidate that it will be easy. No way, it can never be. You know, there are two types of turbulence.
“There is turbulence that will not have a crash, which is a normal turbulence. There is so much turbulence that there is likely to be a crash.
“Our own turbulence in PDP is the normal turbulence, which I believe we will get through, but APC turbulence is turbulence that is likely to lead to a crash.
“PDP has redeemed its position towards what Nigerians are expecting, because Nigerians are tired of what is going on in the country. So, they need an alternative, and the only alternative as it is today is the Peoples’ Democratic Party,” Wike stated.
The governor further said as a firm and courageous person, who has demonstrated such selfless leadership in Rivers State, he would only support a presidential candidate who will not mortgage the party for other selfish interests.
“I must see that you are prepared for it, and to confront this evil called APC.”
According to him, although the party was yet to decide whether such a candidate would be from the Southern or Northern part of the country, one thing was certain, “the candidate will be one who could confront the evil tactics of All Progressives Congress.”
The statement equally noted that the governor expressed delight that the PDP got it right with the peaceful conduct of its national convention that saw the emergence of a new competent national working committee.
Wike dismissed insinuations in certain quarters that PDP governors were forced to hold an early convention because they wanted sole control of the party.
Attempts to get a response from the APC were futile. Calls to the mobile telephone number of the National Secretary, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, were neither picked nor returned.
A response to a text message sent to him was still being awaited as at press time.
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.”
