Headline

Don’t Scrap Or Merge NDDC With Niger Delta Ministry, IYC Warns FG

Published

4 years ago

November 7, 2021

Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, Worldwide, has warned the Federal Government not to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, or merge it with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, noting that such would trigger crisis in the oil rich region.

The President of IYC, Peter Igbifa, in a statement in Port Harcourt at the weekend said although the report sounds unreal, but that the body would not dismiss it entirely following the silence that has bedeviled the demand for the inauguration of a substantive board of the NDDC.

Igbifa informed President Muhammadu Buhari that some of his aides have abandoned their responsibility in pursuit of their selfish interest, adding.that their move is to plunge the regions into another crisis.

He said: “Attention of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) Worldwide has been drawn to some reports of a conspiracy of a select few within the corridors of power to scrap the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and merge it with the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

“The Presidency and the Federal Government should distance themselves from any suggestion or advice by any group of persons or individuals to either scrap the NDDC or merge it with any ministry because considering such a sinister idea will nail the fragile peace we currently enjoy in the region to the coffin of avoidable violent conflict.

“President Muhammadu Buhari should know that some of his close aides especially some persons he entrusted with the collective interests of our region have abandoned the region to pursue their selfish interests.

“They have raped the NDDC so much that they can no longer account for the humongous amount of money that accrued to the Commission in the past two years. They are, therefore, desperate to cover up their tracks and are capable of coming up with wicked suggestions to bury their malfeasance without recourse to the peace, stability and development of the region.

“We are calling on President Buhari to know that these enemies of the Niger Delta are determined to set our region on the path of violence to further deepen the scourge of insecurity plaguing the country under his administration.

“Our people are already provoked with the ongoing delay in the inauguration of the NDDC board and our exclusion from the NNPC road projects. Therefore, any attempt to allow orchestrated machinations of greedy politicians to decide the fate of NDDC will trigger crisis of unimaginable proportion.”

Headline

42 Killed In Israeli Attacks, Says Gaza’s Civil Defense

Published

15 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported at least 42 people killed in Israeli attacks on Sunday, as the Israeli army prepared for a new assault on the Palestinian territory’s largest city.

Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said there had been several air strikes around Gaza City — which the military is gearing up to capture — including one in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood that killed eight people.

Attacks were also reported elsewhere across the territory, he said, with the “total tally currently rising to 42 dead”.

The army did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the figure.

“The situation is extremely dangerous… Each day, each minute, there are bombings, martyrs, death and blood — we can’t take it anymore,” Al-Sabra resident Ibrahim Al-Shurafa told AFP, explaining strikes and shelling were ongoing.

“We don’t know where to go. Death follows us everywhere,” he added.

Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel’s offensive has killed at least 62,686 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.

AFP

Headline

Venezuela Frees Eight Opposition Leaders

Published

15 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Venezuelan authorities released eight opposition leaders from jail early Sunday, including a former congressman and two Italian citizens, and granted house arrest to five others, an opposition politician said.

Most of those released had been charged with corruption in opposition-run mayoral offices.

Also set free was Congressman, Amirico de Grazia, detained amid protests that erupted during President Nicolas Maduro’s reelection in 2024.

“Today, several families are once again embracing their loved ones. We know there are many left, and we have not forgotten them; we continue to fight for everyone,” two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles said on X.

Opposition leaders Victor Jurado, Simon Vargas, Arelis Ojeda Escalante, Mayra Castro, Diana Berrio, Gorka Carnevalli, as well as Italian nationals Margarita Assenzo and de Grazia were released, Capriles said.

Nabil Maalouf, Valentin Gutierrez Pineda, Rafael Ramirez, Pedro Guanipa, and David Barroso were placed under house arrest.

The Italian government confirmed the release of de Grazia and Assenzo, who must appear in court to clarify the conditions of their release. It also vowed to continue working on securing the release of other detained Italians.

“We have always said, and we maintain it: we will talk to whomever we need to talk to so that there is not a single political prisoner in our Venezuela!” Capriles added.

AFP

Headline

Russia, Ukraine Exchange Prisoners Of War, Civilians

Published

15 hours ago

August 24, 2025

Editor

Russia and Ukraine each sent back more prisoners of war on Sunday in the latest in a series of exchanges that have seen hundreds of POWs released this year, the two sides said.

Large-scale prisoner exchanges were the only tangible result of three rounds of talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul between May and July.

They remain one of the few areas of cooperation between the two countries since Russia’s offensive began in 2022.

“On August 24, 146 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled” by Kyiv, the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram.

“In exchange, 146 prisoners of war of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were transferred” to Ukraine, it added. Ukraine did not confirm any figures for the release.

Russia also said that “eight citizens of the Russian Federation—residents of the Kursk region, illegally detained” by Kyiv were also returned.

Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August last year, seizing hundreds of square kilometres (miles) of territory in a major setback for the Kremlin.

Russia deployed thousands of troops from its ally North Korea as part of a counterattack but did not fully reclaim the region until April.

Among the Ukrainians released on Sunday was journalist Dmytro Khyliuk, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Khyliuk was kidnapped in the Kyiv region in March 2022. He is finally home in Ukraine,” Zelensky said on social media.

Also freed was former Kherson mayor Volodymyr Mykolayenko, “who spent more than three years in captivity,” Zelensky’s aide Andriy Yermak wrote on X.

“In 2022, he was on the list for return, but Volodymyr voluntarily refused to be exchanged in favour of a seriously ill prisoner with whom he was sharing a cell in a Russian prison,” Yermak said.

AFP