Foreign

French Prime Minister Resigns

By Web News 314

France’s Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, less than a day after his cabinet was unveiled.

The Elysée palace made the announcement after Lecornu met President Emmanuel Macron for an hour on Monday morning.

The shock move comes only 26 days Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the collapse of the previous government of François Bayrou.

Parties across the board in the National Assembly had fiercely criticised the composition of Lecornu’s cabinet, which was largely unchanged from Bayrou’s, and threatened to vote it down.

Several parties are now clamouring for early elections, with some calling for Macron to resign too – although he has always said he will not stand down before his term ends in 2027.

Sébastien Chenu, one of leading figures of the far right National Rally (RN) said “Macron needs to choose: dissolution of parliament or resignation,” .

Lecornu – the former armed forces minister and a Macron loyalist – was France’s fifth prime minister in under two years.

French politics has been highly unstable since July 2024, when snap parliamentary elections resulted in a hung parliament.

This has made it difficult for any prime minister to garner the necessary support to pass any bills.

Bayrou’s government was voted down in September after parliament refused to back his austerity budget, which aimed to slash government spending by €44bn ($51bn; £38bn).

France’s deficit reached 5.8% of GDP in 2024 and its national debt is 114% of GDP. That is the third highest public debt in the eurozone after Greece and Italy, and equivalent to almost €50,000 per French citizen.

Stocks fell sharply in the Paris exchange after the news of Lecornu’s resignation broke on Monday morning.

BBC/Adebukola Aluko

Foreign News

Trump Offers Huge Packages to Federal Government Workers to Resign

By Web News 291

The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has offered bouyant packages to almost all federal workers who do not want to return to office, a major move designed to shrink the US government.

According to the report, in an email sent to millions of employees on Tuesday, his administration told workers they had to decide by the 6th of February whether they wanted to be part of a “deferred resignation program”.

If they agreed to leave their jobs by that date, the message said, they would receive about eight months of salary as a severance package.

The Trump administration expects up to 10% of employees to accept the offer, or around 200,000 of the more than two million workers the federal government employs, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Senior Trump officials told US media that the buyouts could save the government up to $100bn (£80bn).

Workers wishing to take the deal on Tuesday were asked to reply to the email with the word “resign” written in the subject line. The offer includes both pay and benefits for workers until 30 September.

Certain employees did not receive the offer, including postal workers, members of the military, immigration officials, and some national security workers, according to the email.

The message from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s HR agency, on Tuesday evening also warned of future downsizing that could impact those who choose to stay.

“We cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity,” it reads.

The email follows Trump’s earlier announcement that federal employees who had been working remotely since the Covid pandemic would be required to return to the office five days a week.

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said the government’s two million workers were “overwhelmingly left of centre”, adding it was “essential” for Trump to “get control of government”.

Report says, Trump repeatedly pledged to cut the size of the government and slash federal spending while on the campaign trail, as he tasked Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with leading an advisory body focused on cutting regulations, spending, and headcounts within the federal government. Ramaswamy has since left the “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge).

But the email on Tuesday bears a resemblance to one sent to Twitter, now X, employees in late 2022 after Musk bought the social media platform. He asked for an emailed response if they wanted to remain at the company.

The mass buyout offer came at the end of an at-times chaotic day in Washington, following a memo Trump issued which said he would pause federal grants, loans and other assistance.

A district judge suspended the order – which was initially set to go into effect on Tuesday afternoon – until next Monday.

In the hours before that decision, there was widespread confusion over which federal programmes and organizations would be impacted. The White House repeatedly sought to assuage concerns that Social Security payments and Medicaid access could be disrupted.

In a letter to the White House, top Democrats expressed “extreme alarm” about the plan to pause funding.

Also on Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order aimed at restricting gender care for young people.

The order, titled ‘Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation’, says it will prevent those aged under 19 from making “life-altering” choices.

“It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another,” the order says.

It is unclear, however, how the order would be implemented and it is likely to be challenged in court.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

Politics

Update: Ondo Speaker Denies Resignation

By Web News 365

Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr Bamidele Oleyelogun has denied the resignation letter he purportedly tendered on Friday.

A report he purportedly signed and addressed to the Clerk of the House, dated 01-06-2023, said the speaker had resigned from his position.

However, in a statement he swiftly issued on Friday, he said the letter was fake and not coming from either him or the House of Assembly.

The statement was titled, ‘I remain Speaker of the Ondo State House of Assembly.’

It read, “This is to notify the general public that, I Rt Hon Oleyelogun Bamidele David did not resign my position as the Speaker of the House.

“The purported letter of resignation which is in circulation is the handiwork of the fifth columnists that are bent on throwing Ondo State into anarchy, particularly the House of Assembly. The purported resignation is no doubt the figment of the imagination of the peddlers of such a heinous act as l did not contemplate or discussed such a move with any member of the Assembly or family members. Let me tell members of the public that the purported letter of resignation did not emanate from me as it was forged by purveyors of such a letter.

“The Clerk of the House, Mr. Benjamin Jaiyeola has informed me that he did not receive any letter of resignation which has given credence to the fact that the faceless writer is not informed of the process through which such weighty exercise can take. I have not informed the executive arm of the government of such resignation and I urge my honourable colleagues, staffers of the House of Assembly, and members of my constituency to disregard the letter in its entirety and also urge the security agencies to investigate this false and malicious letter that has emanated from the enemies who are working against the existing peace in the state.”

Punch/Adebukola Aluko

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Exceptional Africans

Timothy Came in a Volunteer, Exited Radio Nigeria Voluntarily

By Web News 542

By Olaitan Oye- Adeitan & Adebukola Aluko

Cerebral, Dynamic, Thorough, Versatile, Focused, Dogmatic, Dogged, Forthright, Hardworking and dedicated are just a few of the words that aptly describe the man, Timothy Bamidele.

Timdayle, as fondly called by colleagues, joined the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, on 13th July 2006.

Timothy Bamidele at a training session

His journalism career began in Radio Nigeria, Gold FM, Ilesa, Osun State, as a volunteer in 2005, providing pro bono service for a year, after leaving a government job as a secondary school teacher.

Having proved his mettle in his one-year free service at Radio Nigeria, Timothy was employed as a full-time staff of the corporation in 2006, serving in various capacities as a reporter, covering different beats, editor and producer.

Timdayle served as a State House correspondent under the administrations of Governors Olagunsoye Oyinlola and Rauf Aregbesola and was as well Osun State House of Assembly correspondent.

To his credit, he played a remarkable role in the installation of the first-ever woman Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, headquarters.

In further pursuit of excellence, Timothy was able to secure multiple training opportunities within and outside the country.

These include Radio Netherlands Training Centre, RNTC, and United Nations Training Institute and Research, UNITAR.

He won fellowship awards crisscrossing Nigeria, covering assignments within and outside the country.

A goldfish that has no hiding place, Timothy’s expertise in Information Communication Technology, ICT,  where he carved a niche for himself, came to the limelight, and within the shortest time and by divine providence, he was transferred to Ibadan to pioneer Online Unit, Ibadan Zonal Station of Radio Nigeria.

Having made a highly significant mark at the Online Unit of Ibadan station, Timdayle was redeployed at the instance of the Director-General, Dr Mansur Liman to Abuja Headquarters of the corporation to serve as Multi-Media manager of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, Abuja.

Timothy Bamidele Training Media Personnel

On merit, this new Media icon worked as a Digital Media Assistant at the United Nations Information Centre in Lagos from where he was seconded to the office of the Minister of Petroleum Resources as a Digital Media Assistant on the bill of God’s grace.

Having made a landmark contribution in his 17-year journey in FRCN, Mr Timothy Bamidele, voluntarily exited the services of the corporation on February 18, 2023.

His words, “ I believe and I’m convinced that only God can bestow multiple honours on a man’s life. My journey in FRCN has been a chequered one, paved with great and significant milestones and challenges, and it has come to a significant and remarkable apex”.

Timothy Bamidele Training Participants

“I urge everyone to adapt, embrace transformation, and lift FRCN higher. It’s a great place with the finest of professionals. We remain one in the love of God and the affinity of noble journalism.

Thank you, Jesus. I came, saw, and conquered” Timothy added.

As Timothy Bamidele honourably bows out of service and moves on, it can be said of him that he left an indelible mark in the sands of time.

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Foreign

Hungary PM Adviser Resigns Over ‘Pure Nazi’ Speech

By Web News 423

A member of Viktor Orban’s inner circle has resigned after the Hungarian prime minister spoke out against becoming “peoples of mixed race”.

Zsuzsa Hegedus, who has known the nationalist Mr Orban for 20 years, described the speech as a “pure Nazi text”, according to Hungarian media.

The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust survivors called the speech “stupid and dangerous”.

Mr Orban’s spokesman said the media had misrepresented the comments.

The speech took place on Saturday in a region of Romania which has a large Hungarian community.

In it, Mr Orban said European peoples should be free to mix with one another, but that mixing with non-Europeans created a “mixed-race world”.

“We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” he said.

Mr Orban’s anti-migration views are well known, but for Ms Hegedus, Saturday’s speech crossed a line.

“I don’t know how you didn’t notice that the speech you delivered is a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels,” she wrote in her resignation letter, according to the Hungarian hvg.hu news website.

Goebbels was the head of Adolf Hitler’s propaganda ministry.

Mr Orban’s remarks on race have been bitterly criticised by some in Hungary and equally vehemently defended by others.

“Only one race inhabits this earth, Homo Sapiens. And it is unique and undivided,” chief rabbi Robert Fröhlich commented.

Opposition politicians, decisively defeated by Mr Orban’s Fidesz party in the April elections, said his remarks were “beyond the pale… unworthy of a European statesman”.

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs tried to dampen the growing chorus of condemnation, arguing that the prime minister had been outspoken on the topics of immigration and assimilation for years.

In the government flagship daily, Magyar Nemzet, an article praised Mr Orban for defending the idea of nationhood against a drive to mix all nations “into a grey, indistinguishable mass”.

At best, Mr Orban appears confused, sometimes speaking of the Hungarians as “the most mixed society”, at other times, appearing to suggest he believes in ethnic purity.

Zsuzsa Hegedus’s resignation is unlikely to have further repercussions in Hungary. Party discipline is tight and resignations are almost unheard of.

During his speech, the Hungarian leader also appeared to make light of the Nazi gas chambers in World War Two when he criticised the EU’s plan to cut gas demand by 15% by pointing out that “the past shows us German know-how on that”.

Hungary’s largest Jewish group condemned the speech and called for a meeting with Mr Orban. More than half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered in the final months of World War Two, many of them at Auschwitz.

The International Auschwitz Committee said his words were “grist to the mill to all racist and far-right forces in Europe” and they reminded Holocaust survivors of the dark times of their persecution.

Romania’s foreign minister said the remarks were unacceptable and it was regrettable they were spoken on Romanian territory.

Responding by letter to his long-standing adviser, Mr Orban defended his words.

“You know better than anyone that in Hungary, my government follows a zero-tolerance policy on both anti-Semitism and racism,” he wrote.

His spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, said the mainstream media was “hyperventilating about a couple of tough lines about immigration and assimilation”, but had stayed silent on the main points of the speech.

Addressing the war in Ukraine in his speech, Mr Orban argued that the West’s support of the country had failed, sanctions against Russia were not working and a negotiated peace deal should be the priority.

Viktor Orban won a historic fourth term in office in April, but his stance on Russia’s war has been out of step with every other EU country. He has maintained good relations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and is the only EU leader to openly criticise Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

While the rest of the EU was agreeing to cut its reliance on Russian gas, Hungary’s foreign minister visited Moscow last week to discuss buying more of it. Budapest currently imports 80% of its gas from Russia.

Despite receiving large amounts of EU funds, the Hungarian government has frequently clashed with the EU over rule-of-law issues such as press freedom and migration.

BBC/Taiwo Akinola

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Foreign

Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi Resigns

By Web News 501

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has tendered his resignation after populist coalition partner Five Star withdrew its support in a confidence vote.

The former head of the European Central Bank has led a unity government since February 2021.

In a statement, he said the pact of trust that had sustained the unity government had gone.

However, the president refused to accept his resignation.

President Sergio Mattarella appointed Mr Draghi – a former ECB chief – to lead Italy’s post-Covid pandemic recovery and save the country from endemic instability. He has now called on Mr Draghi to address parliament to provide a clear picture of the political situation.

The effect of President Mattarella’s intervention is not entirely clear.

Mr Draghi is expected to go to parliament next Wednesday and with sufficient backing could remain in office.

The extraordinary developments in Rome capped a day of drama triggered when Five Star leader Giuseppe Conte refused to back the government’s €23bn (£19.5bn) package of economic aid for families and businesses, arguing Mr Draghi was not doing enough to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Even though the government comfortably won Thursday’s vote in the Senate with the help of other parties, the man dubbed “Super Mario” had warned repeatedly that without Five Star’s support the government could not continue.

Mr Draghi paid a first, hour-long visit to President Mattarella and, after reflecting on his future, issued his statement of resignation.

“Today’s votes in Parliament are very significant from a political point of view.

The national unity majority that supported this government since its creation no longer exists,” he said. After addressing ministers he returned to the Quirinale palace to tender his resignation to the president.
Avoiding the cameras, he did not use the main door.

Elections were already due early in 2023 and, if the government does collapse, a vote is likely to take place this autumn.

Several parties on the right are keen on early elections, but a period of political uncertainty will jeopardise Italy’s efforts to tackle a looming energy crisis and pass next year’s budget to secure EU funding.

Right up to the Senate vote, attempts were made to resolve the coalition crisis. Milan’s stock market tumbled 3.4% as nervousness spread to investors in the eurozone’s third biggest economy.

European Union Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, who is himself a former Italian prime minister, said earlier the EU’s executive was watching developments in Rome “with worried astonishment”. The head of Italy’s industry group Confindustria said Five Star’s decision had shown “total irresponsibility”.

Five Star was originally the biggest party in the coalition but has seen a string of defections and falling support. Former party leader Luigi di Maio accused it of a cynical plan to bring down the Draghi government to revive its own support, while dragging Italy to economic and social collapse.

Parties across the political spectrum have had next year’s general election in their sights, especially on the right. Matteo Salvini of the far-right League and Giorgia Meloni of Brothers of Italy are competing for leadership of a potential right-wing coalition.

Ms Meloni called for elections, immediately announcing: “I’m ready to govern.” Mr Salvini said a period of political paralysis was unthinkable.

Politicians on the left are less prepared for elections and Democratic Party Secretary Enrico Letta said the focus now had to be on reconstructing a coalition in parliament so that the Draghi government could restart.

BBC /Taiwo Akinola

Foreign

UK Health, Finance Ministers Resign

By Web News 446

Sajid Javid, UK secretary of state for health and social care, and Rishi Sunak, UK treasury chief, have both resigned their positions. 

The two UK ministers announced their resignations minutes apart on Tuesday.

The resignations come after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised over his handling of the concerns raised over Chris Pincher, deputy chief whip, after reports of alleged sexual misconduct linked to the latter.

Pincher quit as deputy chief whip last week following claims that he groped two men at a private members’ club.

Asked if it was an error to appoint Pincher to the government, Johnson said: “I think it was a mistake and I apologise for it. In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do”.

In their resignation letters to the prime minister, both ministers expressed reservations over Johnson’s approach to governance.

Javid said he had lost confidence in the prime minister’s ability to govern in national interest.

The tone you set as a leader, and the values you represent, reflect on your colleagues, your party and ultimately the country. Conservatives at their best are seen as hardheaded decisions makers, guided by strong values. We may not have always been popular, but we have been competent in acting in the national interest,” the health minister’s letter to the prime minister reads in part.

“Sadly, in the current circumstances, the public are concluding that we are now neither. The vote of confidence last month showed that a large number of our colleagues agree. It was a moment for humility, grip and new direction.

“I regret to say, however, that it is clear to me that this situation will not change under your leadership – and you have therefore lost my confidence too.”

On his part, Sunak said he had come to the point where he realised his approach to governance is “fundamentally too different” from Johnson’s.

“Our country is facing immense challenges. We both want a low-tax, highs growth economy, and world class public services, but this can only be responsibly delivered if we are prepared to work hard, make sacrifices and take difficult decisions,” the letter reads in part.

“I firmly believe the public are ready to hear that truth. Our people know that if something is too good to be true then it’s not true. They need to know that whilst there is a path to a better future, it is not an easy one. In preparation for our proposed joint speech on the economy next week, it has become clear to me that our approaches are fundamentally too different.

“I am sad to be leaving Government but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we cannot continue like this.”

Meanwhile, the development came, weeks after Johnson survived a nonconfidence vote — a decision by lawmakers to determine if the UK prime minister is fit to continue in office.

Announcing the result of the votes after it was cast on June 6, Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee — a panel of Conservative members of parliament — said Johnson got 211 votes out of the 359 votes cast by lawmakers.

Cable/Taiwo Akinola

Sport

Eguavoen Steps Down as Super Eagles Head Coach

By Web News 652

Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles, Austin Eguavoen has stepped down following the failure of the Super Eagles of Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

A statement from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF says, the Federation has in the meantime withdrawn the two-and-half years contract offered the coaches and terminated the appointment of the entire technical crew of the team with immediate effect.

It notes that a new crew will be announced after a proper review to lead the new charge of reinvigorating the Super Eagles to face future challenges appropriately.

According to NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, “We thank the coaches and team officials for their service to the nation and wish them success in their future endeavours,”

Olaolu Fawole