Headline
Wike Should Remain In Abuja, Leave Fubara, Rivers Alone – Clark

Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South Leader, Chief Edwin Clark has asked the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, Nyesom Wike to remain focused and concentrate in the nation’s Capital because he has a lot to do and leave Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and the people of the state alone.
The Elder statesman who stated this in an Interview with African Independent Television, AIT on Tuesday however accused the former Rivers State governor and the immediate past Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi and his successor as the masterminds of what he described as politics of madness in Rivers State.
The Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF who noted that godfatherism must give way in the nation’s polity and the practice of politics for the development and growth of democracy in the country, said that he has never Fubara ad he cannot ascertain his complexion, said that he is only out to fight against injustice and oppression.
The interview by the AIT with Clark was in Commemorations of his 97th Birthday as well as a Documentary on his Life and Achievements.
When asked why attempts have not been made to settle both Wike and Fubara, the Leader of the Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF asked if they are quarrelling that would call for settlement, stressing that what is playing out is egocentricism, the issue of I made you the governor of the state and you must worship me, but the other saying that he cannot worship man, but God, even though he agreed that he made the governor by the former governor.
READ ALSO: Buhari Did Everything To Subjugate Igbos, Says Edwin Clark
Clark said, “Who made you Governor of Rivers States, today you don’t want to see the man? He wrote about Peter Odili but later now he said that if he does anything against Odili, God should kill him. Then, Amaechi made him Chief of Staff. When he quarreled with him, Ameachi now recommended him to be appointed Minister, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo agreed.
“But what happened? One day, we had the approval of theresidency to tell the security people as he got five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, I have their names here, to impeach the speaker, one Otelemaba Amachreee. Then to later impeach, the governor, Rotimi Ameachi. There was a free-for-all fight. The mace was broken. One of the members called Chidi, not somebody with a part of the mace. That man had to be flown abroad for treatment. Amaechi then closed the House of Assembly for one year. So that’s Wike’s work.
“Politics of madness in Rivers State was started by Wike and Ameachi. They don’t care about other people. So, there is no way, Wike should stay, remain in Abuja to do his job. Let the young man rule his place.
“What are you going to settle them for? Where they quarreling. What are you settling them for? People said Wike made Fubara governor, yes, that is true.
“The man has acknowledged it. But he says, I can’t worship a human being that I will worship God to show appreciation. But Wike said that worship God through me. The man said no. That is the problem they have.”
READ ALSO: Woman Wrongly Convicted Of Murder Freed After 43 Years In Prison
On the Rivers State House of Assembly members who dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP for the All Progressives Congress, APC, he said, “So, as far as I’m concerned, it will ease out. And this is tied to what you said about INEC. INEC is not doing its job. The constitution is clear. There’s a legal advisor in INEC office, Secretariat.
“When such vacancies are created like this, they have to take action to conduct election within 90 days to fill those vacant places, which they have not done. These are some of their failings.”
When asked what he would like to be remembered for, Clark disclosed that he would want to be remembered as a foremost Nigerian who believed in Nigeria, who believed in equality in this country, who believed that no one in Nigeria should be regarded as a superior person against the other, just as asked those he offended in the course of his sojourn and work to forgive him.
The South South leader said, “It must come from a home to be a Nigerian. So, as far as I remember, number one, I am one of the oldest states men in Nigeria. I was very happy when His Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, during my book launch, Brutally Frank asked everybody to stand up, with General Yakubu Gowon, former President Goodluck Jonathan, among others were all there. He said, everybody should stand up. The Ooni said that Chief Clark is our Baba, he is our nationalist, a national figure. So, what honour do would be more than that ? So, I want to be remembered for the role I played in Nigeria, and an appeal to those that during these 70 something years of my service to my country, those that I do not know that I have offended, to forgive me.
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“But I want to be remembered to be a foremost Nigerian who believed in Nigeria, who believed in equality in this country, who believed that no one in Nigeria should be regarded as a superior person against the other. Everybody should be equal.
” That is the Nigerian I want to be remembered for that. I contributed to that, which I did, because during the civil war, all the teachers and other workers from the South West or South East, South-South, left the North. There were no teachers, there were nobody. I was then the Commissioner for Education, i was appointed by Bridgadier General Samuel Ogbemudia, we supplied Kano State, 250 teachers, free of charge, they don’t pay out. Audu Bako was the governor; . They got integrated in Kano.
We gave North West, Sokoto the headquarters, 200 teachers; when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was Commissioner for Education in Sokoto, North Western State. They didn’t treat them well, then the people returned home.
“We gave science teachers to the rest of the states. We had exchange of students, with North East, in Maiduguri.
“And the other day, during the COVID-19, I got a call that the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu was coming to visit me. So he came. And he sat down somewhere, because of the COVID.
READ ALSO: Rivers Crisis: Clark Asks PDP, APC Chairmen To Caution Wike
“Then he was saying, have you forgotten your pension? He said exchange of students? I said, yes, yes, I remember. One of my daughters said, he was one of those who finished up in Government College in Maiduguri.
He said, yes, myself, I was sent to Edo College, where I did my HSC. And he used to come and talk to us. I said, come and sit by me. That’s all I wanted.
“When the war was over, Gen. Yakubu Gowon said, I don’t need any congratulations, that there was no victor, no vanquished because it was a family war. Go and help them to reintegrate, to reconcile and we have a station, which we did. My eldest daughter, Rebecca, was in Class 2 in St. Theresa School Ughelli. I removed her from Ughelli and took her to Enugu to go and study with them and see and suffer with them, supplied them desk.Government supplied Queen’s School, Enugu, Okanagan Grammar School, Enugu, with furnished teacher’s quarters in Nsukka, 10.
“So what am I saying? I’ve been in Nigeria. And I challenge anybody who says, Chief Clark was such and such, no way.
“I kicked against corruption because I know it’s one of those things eating Nigeria. I will be remembered for my role in education. When I was 85, I asked myself, what do I do? I must leave a legacy behind.
“Shouting on top of my voice is not enough. I said I want to establish a private University where children from all over the country will come to my village, live together, study together, and grow up together to be good citizens of their country and already, that is happening.”
Headline
Eswatini Jails 10 Africans Deported From US

The African kingdom of Eswatini said it received and jailed 10 more deportees from the United States on Monday as part of a US scheme to expel undocumented migrants.
Eswatini took in a first group of five men in July, with Ghana, Rwanda, and South Sudan also accepting US deportees in recent months in a programme criticised by rights groups.
The tiny southern African nation agreed in May to accept up to 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to “build its border and migration management capacity”, according to a deal signed with the United States and seen by AFP.
Its correctional services department said in a statement Monday it “confirms the arrival of ten (10) third country nationals from the United States of America”.
It did not give details but said they had been “securely accommodated in one of the country’s correctional facilities” and the government would “facilitate their orderly repatriation”.
A US-based attorney representing some of the deportees said the new group included “three Vietnamese, one Filipino, one Cambodian”.
READ ALSO:US Deports Six Nigerians For Various Offences
The lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, represents two of the Vietnamese nationals who arrived Monday.
“One of my clients … tried to assert a reasonable fear of harm being deported to Eswatini, but ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ignored him and put him on the plane anyways,” he told AFP.
He also represents a Vietnamese and a Laotian who were part of the first group which also included nationals from Cuba, Jamaica and Yemen.
– ‘Legal black hole’ –
The deal that Eswatini signed with the United States on May 14 says that the US deportees may include third country nationals “with criminal backgrounds and/or who are designated suspected terrorists”.
Washington said the first group of men had been convicted of crimes in the United States, including child rape and murder, but their lawyers told AFP that all five had long finished serving their sentences.
READ ALSO:Venezuelan Deportees: US Embassy Gives Reason For Reducing Visa Validity For Nigerians
Eswatini jailed them in its maximum security Matsapha Correctional Centre which is notorious for holding political prisoners and for overcrowding.
One of them, a 62-year-old Jamaican who had reportedly completed a sentence for murder in the United States, was sent back to his country around two weeks ago.
Nguyen said Eswatini was a “legal black hole” and the deportees were denied legal counsel.
His two clients had been detained since mid-July without a charge, he said.
“I cannot call them. I cannot email them. I cannot communicate through local counsel because the Eswatini government blocks all attorney access,” he told AFP.
Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions.
READ ALSO:Judge Halts US Govt Effort To Detain Student For Deportation
A local lawyer on Friday won a court ruling allowing him to visit the four men still detained, but the government immediately appealed, suspending the ruling.
US President Donald Trump has overseen a drastic expansion of the practice of deporting people to countries other than their nation of origin, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
But rights experts have warned the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.
Human Rights Watch last month urged African governments to refuse to accept US deportees and to terminate deals already in effect, saying they violated global rights law.
Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland and landlocked by neighbours South Africa and Mozambique, has been led by King Mswati III since 1986 and his government has been accused of human rights violations.
Headline
Russian Strikes Kill Five In Ukraine, Cause Power Outages

Russian strikes Sunday on Ukraine killed five people and badly damaged energy infrastructure, temporarily severing power supplies to tens of thousands and prompting neighbouring Poland put ground defence on high alert.
Russia has stepped up strikes on energy networks, increasing fears Moscow would resume its widespread campaign of attacks on power facilities, which have plunged millions into darkness in past winters.
Russian forces fired 496 drones and 53 missiles at Ukraine, the majority of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force.
“Sadly, five people were killed. My sincere condolences to everyone who lost loved ones to this terror,” Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Strikes killed four people near Lviv, which lies in western Ukraine and is hundreds of kilometers from the front line, and has been largely spared the attacks that have hit cities further east.
“Near Lviv, an entire family of four was killed in their home, including a teenage girl,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said.
READ ALSO:Russia Arrests Woman For Detonating Bomb On Railway
Emergency services released photos showing firefighters battling flames in a destroyed building, and helping elderly residents to safety.
Attacks also killed one person in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and wounded people near the eastern front, local authorities said.
“Russians once again targeted our infrastructure -– everything that ensures normal life for our people,” Zelensky said.
The strikes cut power to over 110,000 subscribers across several regions, Ukraine’s emergency services said, with the hardest hit being Zaporizhzhia.
– ‘Gas, heat and light’ –
Overnight, more than 73,000 people in Zaporizhzhia were left without electricity, regional head Ivan Fedorov said, though power had been partially restored by the afternoon.
Ukraine’s state-run gas company Naftogaz network also reported damage to its network.
“These maniacal terrorist strikes are aimed solely at one thing — depriving Ukrainians of gas, heat, and light,” Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi said in a statement.
READ ALSO:Badenoch Unveils Strict UK Immigration Plan, Targets 150,000 Yearly Deportations
The Russian army said it launched an attack “against enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and gas and energy infrastructure facilities that ensured their operation.”
Russian attacks have also rattled Ukraine’s European allies after a spate of alleged Russian airspace violations into Europe.
NATO boosted its defences along its eastern borders throughout the month as it accused Moscow of testing the alliance’s air defences with drone incursions into several members and by flying military jets in Estonian airspace.
Overnight Poland’s armed forces said on X that they had mobilised planes and put ground defences on high alert to secure the country’s airspace, especially in areas close to Ukraine.
Ukraine also said Russia was intensifying a campaign of air strikes on its railway network in an attempt to isolate frontline communities ahead of winter.
Russia launched drones at two passenger trains in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region on Saturday, killing one person and wounding dozens, according to Ukrainian officials.
Headline
Badenoch Unveils Strict UK Immigration Plan, Targets 150,000 Yearly Deportations

Kemi Badenoch, leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, has unveiled an aggressive immigration reform plan aimed at detaining and deporting 150,000 illegal migrants annually, in what she described as the “toughest reforms Britain has ever seen” in border policy. The announcement was made in a video message posted on her X account on Sunday.
The plan, dubbed the Radical Borders Plan, envisages the establishment of a new Removals Force modelled after the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which would replace the current Home Office Immigration Enforcement unit. According to Badenoch, the Removals Force will have a mandate to remove all illegal entrants, foreign criminals, and undocumented migrants, while also monitoring illegal work. She stated, “My message is clear: if you’re here illegally, you will be detained and deported.”
Badenoch sharply criticised previous administrations, accusing both Conservative and Labour governments of failing to manage the migration crisis effectively. “Successive governments have failed on immigration. Labour promised to smash the gangs. Instead, in just a year, they delivered record small boat crossings, over 50,000 illegal arrivals, 32,000 people in asylum hotels, billions wasted. It’s pure weakness. Britain needs a serious, credible plan and the backbone to deliver it,” she said.
READ ALSO:Badenoch Slams UK’s Palestine Recognition Decision As ‘Absolutely Disastrous’
The proposed plan includes several controversial measures. Asylum claims from illegal entrants would be banned, the Human Rights Act repealed, and the United Kingdom withdrawn from the European Convention on Human Rights. Badenoch added that all new illegal arrivals would be deported within a week, with legal obstacles to mass removals removed and visa sanctions imposed on countries that refuse to repatriate their citizens. She also pledged to “shut down the asylum hotel racket,” which she said would save taxpayers billions and restore public confidence in the UK’s border controls.
The Removals Force, if approved, will operate with an annual budget of £1.6 billion, double that of the current Immigration Enforcement unit, funded by savings from the closure of asylum hotels and other measures within the asylum system. The force will have sweeping powers, including the use of facial recognition technology without prior warning, and will integrate closely with the police. Priority for removals will include new illegal entrants, foreign criminals, failed asylum seekers, visa over-stayers, and others identified as residing in the UK illegally.
In an interview on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch faced criticism for her refusal to specify the destinations to which deported migrants would be sent. She responded, “I’m tired of all of these irrelevant questions about where they should go. They will go back to where they should be or another country, but they should not be here.” When pressed further, she added, “They will go back to where they came from.”
READ ALSO:Badenoch Slams UK PM For Cutting Defence Funding Amid Global Threats
According to the Conservative Party document detailing the plan, the proposed measures are intended to increase removals from the current 34,000 per year to approximately 150,000, marking a five-fold increase in enforcement activity. The party argues that the reforms are necessary to address what it describes as uncontrolled migration and to strengthen public trust in the country’s border system.
Badenoch’s announcement has intensified the ongoing debate in the UK over immigration policy, balancing border security with human rights considerations. Critics have expressed concern over the repeal of the Human Rights Act and the use of facial recognition technology without oversight, while supporters have welcomed the proposed measures as a decisive step in tackling illegal immigration.
The Radical Borders Plan is expected to be submitted for parliamentary consideration in the coming months, with its implementation contingent on legislative approval and coordination with existing law enforcement structures.
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