Why I didn’t welcome Tinubu to Rivers – Cole

The Rivers State governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Tonye Cole, has explained the reasons he failed to visit the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, during his visit to the state to inaugurate projects.

Cole cited negligence and Governor Nyesom Wike’s nonchalance among others as reasons why he was absent from the inauguration.

The PUNCH reported that Tinubu, on Wednesday visited the state on the invitation of Wike to inaugurate the Rumuokwuta/Rumuola flyover in Port Harcourt, where he described Wike as a man of integrity who abandoned his interest for the nation’s interest.

The APC governorship candidate stated this while speaking in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, adding that Wike should have informed the state chapter of APC if he really wanted them to be part of the programme.

He said, ”I will describe the visit from two sides. The first side of it is the President-elect."

“As a President-elect of Nigeria, he has the right to go anywhere. And the Rivers State Government invited him, and he has come, honoured that invitation, and has come to Rivers State as a President-elect; with that, we have no problem at all."

”Where the issue is is that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, ought also to be the governor of all Rivers people."

WAEC announces date for 2023 exams

The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates is scheduled to hold between May 8 and June 23.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Head of National Office, Mr. Patrick Areghan made this known at a pre-examination briefing on Thursday in Lagos.

Areghan said 1,621,853 candidates across 20,851 government and private schools registered for the examination.

Abducted Catholic priests regain freedom

The two Catholic priests abducted at Agbarha-Otor town, Ughelli North Council Area of Delta State have been released.

The priests, Rev. Fr. Raphael Ogigbah of St. Francis Parish, Agbarha-Otor, Catholic Diocese of Warri and Rev. Fr. Kunav Chochos of the Schoenstartt Fathers, were kidnapped last Saturday.

According to a senior priest, they were released on Thursday noon after spending five nights in the den of kidnappers.

The duo has been reunited with the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Warri.

It was not clear if ransom was paid to secure their release but it was gathered the abductors demanded N20 million as ransom.

Frs. Ogigbah and Chochos were kidnapped in front of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Agbarha-Otor.

Chochos, who works and lives in Ibadan, Oyo State, was in Delta to visit his friend, Fr Ogigbah, at Agbarha-Otor, the hometown of famous Ibru family.

What APC's victory in 2023 elections means to Buhari administration - Garba Shehu

The victory of the President-elect and Vice President-elect, Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, respectively and the established control of APC in 21 out of 36 states in the last general elections, have firmly established the party as a dominant national Political Party.

‘‘This is a difficult reality for the opposition parties,’’ the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in his office in Abuja on Thursday while receiving the “Arewa Young Lawyers’ Forum (AYLF),” the umbrella body for all young lawyers in the Northern part of Nigeria.

Shehu said opposition victory in the general election would not only have been a career ending moment for many APC leaders, but would also have had negative consequences for the various programmes of the Buhari administration that empowered marginalised groups, and remedied much of the nation’s infrastructure deficit.

“APC victory in the election is a watershed moment for the Buhari government, its orientation, its programmes and projects."

‘‘In the hands of the opposition, many of the laudable programmes of the Buhari administration would have been sabotaged or unimplemented."

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