Headlines
You Are No Longer PDP Chairman, Court Slams Uche Secondus
A high court in Rivers State on Monday, issued an an order of interim injunction restraining Uche Secondus from parading self as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Judge O. Gbasam reportedly issued the order following an ex parte application filed by four applicants.
A copy of the court order which went viral online on Monday has the quartet of Ibeawuchi Alex, Dennis Amadi, Emmanuel Stephen, and Umezerike Onucha, as the plaintiffs.
Mr Secondus and the PDP are the defendants sued in the suit marked PHC/2183/CS/2021.
Details of the applicants’ grouse against Mr Secondus were not contained in the document which appeared online.
The court order indicated that the applicants’ lawyer, H.A Bello, argued his clients’ ex parte application after which the court granted the interim restraining orders sought against Mr Secondus.
The court also barred him from performing the functions of the national chairman of the party “or calling, attending or presiding over any meeting of the 2nd defendant (PDP) or any committee of the 2nd defendant at the Ward, Local Government or State level”.
It also stopped him from calling for any ward, local government or state congress of the PDP or setting up committees for such congresses or participating in any activity of the 2nd defendant whatsoever.
It added that Mr Secondus must not take any of these actions “whilst on suspension as a member of the 2nd defendant pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction.”
The judge also granted leave to serve the main suit and other processes filed by the applicants on the respondents through substituted means by pasting same to his gate at No.1 William Jumbo Street, Old G.R.A Port Harcourt.
No fresh hearing date is indicated on the court document.
Premium Times
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.”
