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Rivers: PDP, Clark Fault Tinubu’s Peace Deal, APC Slams Opposition

The Peoples Democratic Party and an elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, on Tuesday faulted President Bola Tinubu’s peace deal between the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesome Wike.
Tinubu brokered a truce between the FCT minister and his political godson at a meeting in Abuja on Monday night.
The meeting was attended by the President, Wike, Fubara, and his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu; a former governor of Rivers State, Peter Odili; and other stakeholders.
Reacting to PDP’s statement, the All Progressives Congress said the opposition party lacked shame for faulting the peace deal.
At the meeting, Wike and Fubara signed an eight-point agreement to end the political crisis in the state.
The crisis Fubara and his predecessor came to the fore on October 29 when a section of the state House of Assembly was gutted by fire after the lawmakers began moves to impeach the governor.
Events in the state assumed another dimension on December 11 when 27 out of 32 members of the state House of Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC. The defectors are Wike’s loyalists.
READ ALSO: Rivers Crisis: Fubara Ordered To Re-present Budget To Full House, Others
The Assembly was subsequently factionalised with a group led by a pro-Wike Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, and another by Edison Ehie, loyal to Fubara.
The House of Assembly complex in the state was pulled down on December 13 by the state government, which insisted that the building was not good for human habitation.
Tinubu intervened in the crisis on Monday night by brokering a peace deal.
Among others, it was agreed that the governor should withdraw court cases concerning the crisis and that he should represent the 2024 budget to the Amaewhule-led Assembly which was recognised as the Speaker.
It was also agreed that the defectors should return to the Assembly and that the nine commissioners who resigned should be reappointed by the governor.
But the Convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark, faulted the meeting convened by Tinubu to address tension between Fubara and Wike.
At a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, Clark condemned the agreement, describing it as appalling and unacceptable to the people.
The elder statesman also alleged that Fubara had been “ambushed and intimidated” into signing the agreement, adding that Tinubu’s intervention was a desecration of the constitution.
“It is obvious that Governor Siminialayi Fubara was ambushed and intimidated into submission. President Tinubu should know that with all the powers he possesses, he cannot override the Constitution.
“From all that transpired at the meeting, the laws of the land have not been obeyed. President Tinubu simply sat over a meeting where the constitution, which is the fulcrum of his office as President and which he swore to uphold and abide by, was truncated and desecrated.
“The eight resolutions reached, are the most unconstitutional, absurd, and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life. As a matter of fact, some media captured it very well when they described it as directives,” he said.
Clark also alleged that the resolutions showed that Tinubu was trying to compensate Wike for winning the presidential election in Rivers for the APC, adding that people “will resist such draconian, arbitrary and unconstitutional action by Mr President and his customer, Nyesom Wike”.
“We will go to court to challenge this so-called one-sided and oppressive action of Mr. President”, he added.
Also, on Tuesday, the PDP National Working Committee rejected the intervention of the President and told the defectors that they could only return to the Assembly through fresh elections.
Addressing a press conference after the PDP emergency NWC meeting on Tuesday, the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, advised the lawmakers, who defected to APC not to be deceived by anybody giving assurances in Abuja that they could return to the House of Assembly without fresh elections.
READ ALSO: Labour Party Drops Petition Against Fubara
Damagum said there was no respite for the defectors, who by virtue of Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, vacated their seats because of defection from the PDP.
Quoting Section 109(1)(g), he states, “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if: being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected:
“Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored; or
“(h) the Speaker of the House of Assembly receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 110 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of the member.”
The PDP chairman insisted that having vacated their seats, the only option available for the lawmakers, if they wished to return was to seek fresh nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choice.
He said the factional Speaker, Edison, had officially declared the seats of the defectors vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“Our party therefore counsels the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly not to be deceived by anybody giving them the false hope and impracticable assurances in Abuja that they can return to the Rivers State House of Assembly without a fresh election or that the Independent National Electoral Commission can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 25 Rivers State constituencies where vacancies have occurred because of their defection,” he added.
READ ALSO: Rivers Crisis: Two More Commissioners Resign From Fubara’s Cabinet
He said INEC should, in line with Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022, fix a date for the conduct of a fresh election into the 25 state constituencies in the state.
APC slams PDP
But APC knocked the opposition PDP, saying it (PDP) had no business calling for a fresh election to replace the defectors.
In a telephone interview with The PUNCH correspondents, the APC National Director of Publicity, Bala Ibrahim, said, “The PDP has no business in the affairs of these 27 members of Rivers House of Assembly. Already, the lawmakers said they are not members of the PDP because they have left the party. And once you leave the party, the organs of the political platform have no business with you. They cannot dictate to them what to do with their own political lives.
“If they have decided to leave the party, it is their choice. It is not for the PDP to now tell them what to do with their own political trajectory. The PDP should bury its head in shame and lick its wounds. This is because people are gradually losing faith in them and no longer see them as the emancipators they claimed to be.”
When asked if the Rivers State governor would not be pressured into pulling out of the truce reached on Monday night, the APC spokesman dismissed the notion, saying the relevant parties involved in the agreement took the decision in the interest of the people.
“This is a meeting that took place between people who are holding the highest responsibilities in their domains. Tinubu as President and Commander-in-Chief of the country has spoken with the interest of the country at heart.
“Fubara has also spoken in his capacity as the Governor and the chief security officer of Rivers State. It would be unfair for anybody to read their intentions negatively. They won’t speak with the intention of deceiving the country or going against the oath of office they took. I am sure they took the decision in the interest of the people who voted them into power,” he stated.
READ ALSO: Rivers Begin Demolition Of Assembly Complex, Pro-Fubara Lawmakers Meet
Also, the Presidency has explained that Tinubu’s intervention in the crisis is not political.
It argued that Tinubu did so in his capacity as Nigeria’s leader and “father of the nation”.
“The motive of the President is clearly, in this case, not a political one. He is the father of the nation; he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; he is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces,” the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said when he appeared on TVC Monday night.
Ngelale, who argued that the President only wanted to ensure stability in the country, said, “It is the primary responsibility of his to ensure that there is peace and stability and security in all parts of the country.
“If he sees any sign that peace is breaking down in any part of the country, this is a President that will take action.”
He said citizens should expect a hands-on conflict resolution approach in the Tinubu years.
“Nigerians are going to see that the difference between what we have seen from this President as against previous presidents of the past 24 years is that when something is wrong—whether it involves a political party or not in any part of the country—as the father of the nation, he is going to call everybody to the table and he is going to get everybody to a common resolution in the interest of the Nigerian people,” Ngelale added.
He further explained that “the resolution of the Rivers crisis is one that results from a series of interventions that he (Tinubu) has made over the course of the last few months on this issue.
“Mr. President was fully ready and equipped to take a very hard action if this resolution had not been reached.”
He described the resolutions from Monday’s meeting as products of compromise from all parties to bring relief to the people of Rivers.
“There was a compromise involved. All sides of the political divide within that state have had to compromise to ensure that there is a fair resolution,” said the Presidential aide.
Headline
US Lifts Restrictions On Visa Validity For Ghanaians, Leaves Nigeria’s Unchanged

The United States has restored the maximum validity periods for all categories of nonimmigrant visas for Ghanaian nationals following Ghana’s agreement to accept West African deportees, but similar restrictions for Nigerians remain in place.
The B1/B2 visitor visa is now valid for up to five years, with multiple entries allowed, while the F1 student visa’s maximum validity has been restored to four years, with multiple entries permitted.
“The U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce that the maximum validity periods for all categories of nonimmigrant visas for Ghanaians have been restored to their previous lengths. The maximum validity allowed for the B1/B2 visitor visa is again five years, multiple entry. The maximum validity for the F1 student visa is again four years, multiple entry,” the U.S. Embassy announced in a tweet on Saturday.”
Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Ablakwa, also announced in a tweet that the new policy now allows citizens to apply for five-year multiple-entry visas.
READ ALSO:Japan Scraps ‘Africa Hometown’ Project After Visa Confusion
Ablakwa also stated that the reversal of the restriction comes with other enhanced consular privileges, adding that the development was the result of months of diplomatic engagement.
“The U.S. visa restriction imposed on Ghana has been reversed. Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple-entry visas and other enhanced consular privileges,” Ablakwa stated.
“This good news was directly communicated to me by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, at a bilateral meeting earlier today, in the margins of the UN General Assembly. I am really pleased that months of high-level diplomatic negotiations have led to a successful outcome.”
These changes reverse earlier restrictions imposed under the Trump administration, which had limited most visas to single-entry and a three-month validity period.
READ ALSO:H-1B Visas: Trump To Impose $100,000 Annual Fee For Skilled Foreign Workers
The restrictions affected several African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, and were based on concerns over visa reciprocity and the acceptance of deported migrants.
In July, the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria announced updates to its reciprocal nonimmigrant visa policy, stating: “The United States Department of State has announced updates to its reciprocal non-immigrant visa policy, impacting several countries, including Nigeria. Effective immediately, most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria will be single-entry visas with a three-month validity period.
“Those U.S. non-immigrant visas issued prior to July 8, 2025, will retain their status and validity. We wish to underscore that, as is standard globally, visa reciprocity is a continuous process and is subject to review and change at any time, such as increasing or decreasing permitted entries and duration of validity. You can view the latest information on visa reciprocity schedules for all countries at travel.state.gov.”
Reports indicate that the U.S. pressured some African nations to accept deported migrants, including Venezuelan detainees from U.S. prisons.
READ ALSO:US Defends New Social Media Vetting For Nigerian Visa Applicants
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar rejected these pressures, stating that Nigeria would not serve as a “dumping ground” for deportees.
“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” Tuggar said during a televised interview.
“We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”
Meanwhile, Ghanaian President John Mahama confirmed that Ghana had begun accepting deported West African nationals after U.S. requests.
“We were approached by the U.S. to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the U.S., and we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.
“All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country.”
Headline
UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.
In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.
Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.
Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.
“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.
READ ALSO:UK Set To Announce Recognition Of Palestinian State
“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.
Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.
Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.
“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.
READ ALSO:Kenya Court Seeks UK Citizen’s Arrest Over Mother’s Murder
“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.
“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”
The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.
She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.
Headline
Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.
The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.
READ ALSO:PICTORIAL: NDLEA Intercepts Cocaine, Opioid Shipments Meant For US, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Poland
A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.
“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.
AFP
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