According to Michael Freeman, Israel’s ambassador to Nigeria, peace in the Middle East largely depends on the Iranian government’s actions.
Freeman said that Iran is the only nation whose leaders have “openly threatened” to annihilate another country in an interview with Channels Television’s Hard Copy.
He argued that these dangers continue to “increase instability in the region” and beyond.
When asked about Israel’s nuclear arsenal, the envoy claimed to have no knowledge whether or not it was a nuclear power.
Freeman criticized Iran’s internal leadership, calling its administration “dictatorial and brutal,” and claiming that the people were not given the option to “liberally choose their leaders.”
He also reaffirmed that Nigeria and other nations are “a threat” to the Iranian regime, not just its own citizens.
An ex-international football player and his businessman partner have been detained by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for an alleged smuggling attempt into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja, Lagos.
The business partner was detained on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, according to the NDLEA, upon his arrival at the Lagos airport.
It claimed that a search of his carry-on bag on Sunday revealed 37 wraps of 800 grams of cocaine hidden therein. The director of media and advocacy, Femi Babafemi, said in a statement released on Sunday.
An ex-international football player, Segun George Hunkarin, and his business partner Ntoruka Emmanuel Chinedu have been detained by the national drug law enforcement agency (NDLEA) operations in Lagos over an attempt to smuggle cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) Ikeja.
READ MORE: NDLEA Arrests 353 Suspects For Drug-Related Offences .
According to the investigation, the suspect was traveling from Turkey to Ethiopian Airlines when he passed through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he collected the luggage before departing for Nigeria. According to further examinations, Segun Hunkarin, a former professional football player, was present to meet Chinedu at the airport carpark to collect the consignment, according to the statement.
Hunkarin, who had spent years playing for football clubs in Brazil, was quickly tracked down and detained in the carpark, according to the organization.
Hunkarin claimed in his statement that he had never brought drugs to Nigeria but had only ever trafficked them from Brazil to Ethiopia while playing professional football there.
The NDLEA also made it known that an Amen Okoro Godstime, a businessman from Europe, was detained on June 27 by its agents at the Lagos airport trying to traffic 5, 000 tramadol 225mg pills that were being sold as known malaria medications like Lonart, Amatem, and Aluktem to Spain.
He was allegedly intercepted on a Royal Air Maroc flight through Casablanca while he was clearing the departure hall of Terminal 2 of the airport.
According to the statement, Okoro, who runs a freight and logistics company between Europe and Nigeria, said he would take a train to France where he lives and then send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing.
Ezenwaka Chibuzor Emmanuel, a bar attendant from Maputo, Mozambique, was intercepted by the NDLEA agents at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu.
According to the report, a search of his luggage turned up three cardboard-sized cocaine packages weighing 3.050 kilograms and methamphetamine that were both in his possession.
The 38-year-old suspect was traveling from Johannesburg, South Africa, via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia when he was interrogated and subjected to a search that resulted in the discovery of the illicit drugs contained in the bedsheets in his bags.
Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, a former deputy governor of Rivers State, and the senator representing Rivers West Senatorial District, thanked the state for restoring peace.
Senator Harry-Banigo thanked God Almighty for what she described as “sustained peace” in her Facebook post.
She praised Bola Tinubu, the president, for helping to mend the state’s unity by playing a fatherly role in the internal political crisis.
“I want to thank God Almighty for Rivers State’s continued peace. Congratulations to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president, for his father’s contribution to the resolution of a political family rift, she said.
Additionally, Harry-Banigo praised the efforts of the Federal Capital Territory’s Minister Nyesom Wike, the suspended governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, and other leaders who support dialogue and reconciliation.
“I also commend the state’s leaders, including the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the Rivers State’s Executive Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, for supporting peace and reconciliation. Rivers State, congratulations! she stated.
The statement came amid a flurry of positive comments about President Tinubu’s mediation of a truce between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike, which the suspended governor has argued is crucial to the stability and development of the state.
Read more recently: President Tinubu Meets With Wike, Fubara, and Rivers Lawmakers.
“Tinubu’s Intervention”
On Thursday, President Tinubu had a meeting with members of the assembly, Fubara, Wike, Martins Amaewhule, the state’s speaker, and the assembly’s members.
The President met with the parties at the meeting, according to Channels TV, and on March 18 the state declared a state of emergency.
Fubara was also present at the meeting after the president suspended him, his deputy, Mrs. Ngozi Odu, and the Rivers Assembly while a state emergency was declared.
President Tinubu attributed his actions, among other things, to the state Assembly’s inability to work together and the state’s security situation.
On June 26, 2025, Governor Fubara (right) and FCT Minister Wike pose with Rivers Assembly members at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
One photo shows the President with the governor and the minister all smiling during the meeting on Thursday, which depicted a remarkable achievement in efforts to end the region’s protracted political crisis.
At a funeral service in Rumueprikom, Wike’s hometown in the state’s Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, Wike and Amaewhule again appeared in public together two days after the latest round of peace talks at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
On Saturday, June 28, 2025, the FCT’s Minister, Nyesom Wike, and the Rivers State’s suspended governor, Siminalayi Fubara, Obio/Akpor LGA of Rivers State, meet.
No Sacrifice Is Too Big For Peace
There was no sacrifice too great for the state’s peace, stability, and advancement, Fubara claimed on June 28, 2025.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kebbi State has indicated that it is ready to support any coalition that seeks to overthrow the All-Party Congress (APC) at both the state and national levels.
At the conclusion of the party’s stakeholders’ meeting on Saturday, when members expressed optimism about the party’s ability to resolve its ongoing internal conflicts, this statement was made in Birnin Kebbi.
One of the party’s chieftains, Ibrahim Mera, stated to journalists that the state chapter had committed to working closely to ensure the success of any initiative aimed at removing the APC from power.
READ MORE: Coalition Will Be The Party to Beat, APC Should Be Worried, Says Suswam
We also agreed that the state congress should go on its first session, subject to the leadership’s approval, he continued.
He reiterated the party’s commitment to increase its presence in Kebbi State and win support from supporters.
Usman Suru, the Kebbi State PDP Chairman, also addressed the gathering, urging residents to persevere despite the current difficulties and reassure them that a better future is possible.
General Aminu Bande, the PDP candidate for governor in the state and throughout the nation, criticised the state’s and national economic hardship.
He claimed that arbitrary arrests and detentions were carried out by the APC-led Kebbi government.
As political actors are drawn in, Rivers State, a state in Nigeria’s oil-rich South-South state, has been in the spotlight for some time. Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy Ngozi Odu, and members of the State Assembly were suspended in March 2025 when President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in the state. Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the president’s sole administrator, was immediately appointed. Many still doubt whether real progress has been made at the recently presidential-brokered peace summit involving Fubara, his predecessor Nyesom Wike, and others, but it may have changed things. Ann-Kio Briggs, a journalist for Channels Television, provides an inside look at the situation in this exclusive interview.
Enjoy the quotes…
What do you think about the Rivers State Electoral Commission (RSIEC), especially now that Michael Odeh, who is not from Rivers State, has been appointed chairman? The Senate Leader contends that no statute prevents a non-indigene from holding the position. Are you in agreement with him?
We think Rivers people are taking advantage of us. We think that some people are using the law, using the constitution when it pleases them, and abusing it when it pleases them, and hoping to get some sort of response to use against the state.
On June 26, 2025, Governor Fubara (right) and FCT Minister Wike pose with Rivers Assembly members at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Which state, regardless of whether it is constitutional, can endure what Rivers people are? Rivers people will eventually grow weary of it and react to it, regardless of whether they actually believe it or not.
There is already a consensus that Mr. President’s declaration of a state of emergency was unconstitutional in large part because it allowed for it, but it also didn’t explicitly say that the governor, deputy governor, or members of the State House of Assembly could be suspended.
Ibas, the man who was brought in, was not elected by the Rivers people. This is constitutional. He now enters and unlawfully removes individuals from positions that the governor has established as constitutionally sound. They were taken out by him. Then he expanded his creation of local government sole administrators. What does he do for money? Why does the government insist that elections must be held? Why does the government demand that the election of the local government be conducted by this sole administrator?
Ann-Kio Briggs and Ibok Ete Ibas are paired up.
Let’s assume there will be a governor’s election, and the governor will be reelected. Will the governor work with people he doesn’t know when he returns?
People are present in court each time something happens. However, our government does not respect or acknowledge the people of Rivers State’s right to be heard in court.
The judiciary itself, which is supposed to checkmate the other branch of the government, is now a branch of the government that it is supposed to checkmate. Therefore, Rivers residents have been subjected to criticism. The Federal Government, the Senate, and the FCT Minister have conspired against Rivers State’s citizens and rights.
Read more about “We Have Agreed To Work Together,” “Wike, Fubara Reconcile, Meet With Tinubu,” and “We Have Agreed To Work Together.”
But how long will it take for us to stop the frustration and anger that are already building? People who fled the city were thrown under the bus.
As I’ve said before, there was never a reason for declaring a state of emergency. The President was deceived and told lies. The people of Rivers State are victims of the presidency and private individuals as long as he continues to act on what he is being told without hearing the people of Rivers State.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a constitutional question regarding the president’s decision to suspend elected officials in the event of a state of emergency. Has Rivers State actually benefited from this state of emergency?
It ought not to have been disclosed. Actually, the issue has arisen as a result of the state of emergency. The President said it was done because he thought it would benefit Rivers State. We Rivers people are now telling the President that this is not in our best interests.
Look at the man who has been chosen as RSIEC chairman. By law, only the governor is authorized to appoint this chairman, and not less than five or more than seven other members. The governor has a duty to do so. Rivers State does not have an elected governor. Therefore, the Rivers people find that to be inadmissible.
We all know how former president Olusegun Obasanjo fought him in Lagos State when he tried to do something similar. Ibas, a Cross River man who isn’t an elected official, is now in charge of our finances and lives. I’m not sure if the All Progressives Congress (APC) sold us to Cross River.
At a meeting on Thursday, June 26, 2025, Governor Fubara (left), President Tinubu (center), and FCT Minister Wike are all jovial.
We now have someone to advise us on what to do, someone we didn’t choose. We now have a man in charge of an election that we disapprove of. I’m not one to believe in the results of his August election, for example. The elected governor of Rivers State is being imposed upon him in a well-thought-out, well-strategized manner is obvious from the start.
To the extent that this keeps going, the governor is either currently tied down for any reason or has accepted the plan. The Rivers people cannot afford that. Additionally, the governor we elected is not interested in this. He will fight for us, we anticipate. We think he is not currently.
Governor Fubara is choosing peace, according to some, while others claim that he is not pursuing sufficient reelection. Is there any evidence that a local government election is being planned in Rivers State now that the court has yet to decide whether to appoint a sole administrator and remove elected officials?
A group of armed bandits reportedly attacked a mobile police post in Makuku, in the state’s Zuru Local Government Area, and fled with some rifles.
Abdulrahman Zagga, the Cabinet Office’s director of security, made this known to reporters on Saturday.
A large band of bandits attacked the mobile police post, which was manned by visiting officers, according to Zagga. The officers were overpowered despite confronting the attackers in a gunfight.
He claimed that the bandits allegedly escaped with an undisclosed number of rifles after burning a Toyota Hilux patrol car owned by the unit.
READ MORE:  , Troops Neutralize Bandit, and Recover AK-47 In Taraba
Zagga made it clear that the attack was not a police station, as some reports claimed, but a temporary mobile police post. He added that the mobile police officers were forced to leave because there were so many assailants.
He revealed that the state government requested air support from the Nigerian Air Force upon learning about the attack, forcing the bandits to retreat.
Zagga stated that “no casualties were reported during the incident.” The majority of the bandits came from Zamfara and the Niger States, respectively.
He explained that because the village of Makuku is close to the border with Niger State, it is particularly vulnerable to such attacks.
Zagga added that Kebbi State has no peace agreements with any bandit organizations or their leaders, in contrast to some neighboring states.
