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Electricity workers shut EEDC offices in Anambra over colleagues arrest
Members of the Nigerian Union of Electricity Employees on Thursday protested the alleged arrest and continued detention of five staff members by the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company.
The protest, which took place simultaneously at EEDC district offices in Awka, Onitsha and other locations across the state, saw workers blocking entrances and halting all operations.
The detained staff, including a mother of three, were allegedly arrested on July 31 by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Awkuzu, on the orders of the EEDC management over alleged professional misconduct.
The aggrieved workers also lamented poor remuneration, harassment, lack of medicare, intimidation by the Enugu Disco, alleging that several workers have died and others rendered incapacitated due to the policies of the EEDC.
The EEDC, which is responsible for the distribution of power in the South-East states of Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi, is also being accused of operating an “oppressive working environment” for electricity workers across the South-East.
The protesting workers, who marched from the main entrance of the service and customer offices in Onitsha and Awka, round the neighbouring streets, disrupted operations and prevented access to the premises, while carrying placards with varying descriptions.
Some of the descriptions on their placards read, “Release our members unlawfully detained”, “Pay your staff very commiserate salary”, “Stop slavery of your worker”, “Electricity workers say no to intimidation and harassment”, “Stop breaking the terms and conditions of service”, among others.
Speaking during the protest, the Chairman, Ndukwu Bonaventure, said, “No one knows their whereabouts, including their family members, until we started making enquiries at police formations across the state.
”As a union, we went round the police formations across the state until we discovered them at the detention camp in Awkuzu SARS, and that was after five days when we had toured almost all the police formations across the state.
”Our members cannot continue working under the constant threat of arbitrary arrests. We will continue to pursue justice through peaceful and lawful means.
”While we condemned any acts of misconduct, we are insisting that disciplinary procedures must follow due process.
“We do not condone fraud or malpractice, but our members are not criminals and must not be treated like armed robbers. There are established internal procedures for handling such matters, and those must be respected.”
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of NUEE in the state, Friday Idoko, lamented the poor condition of service by the management of EEDC, saying, “Last two weeks, I was almost electrocuted and I was admitted for one week and until I resumed yesterday, no member of management asked after me. An only son of his parents have died doing this job and nothing was done for his family.
“We are demanding for the release of five of our members now, not tomorrow. We know they have Police in their kitty and can control them the way they like we have nothing but they must release them or this work will be abandoned for them.”
Efforts to reach the Head of Corporate Communications at EEDC, Emeka Eze, for comment were unsuccessful.
Calls and messages to his phone went unanswered.
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Kemi Badenoch recalls how she snitched on a fellow pupil for cheating in an exam and got him expelled
Leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has revealed how she once snitched on a fellow pupil for cheating in an exam and it led to him being expelled from their school.
Speaking in a recent interview with BBC News, the Tory leader recalled, when she was ‘about 14 or 15’, she stood up during the middle of an exam and said: ‘He’s cheating, he’s the one that’s doing it.’Nigerian beauty tips
‘That boy ended up getting expelled,’ Mrs Badenoch admitted, adding: ‘I didn’t get praised for it.
‘I was a relatively popular kid at school, and people said ‘why did you do that, why would you do it?’. I said ‘because he was doing the wrong thing’.’
After the incident, the Conservative MP said she was told, ‘You don’t belong here, you don’t know how to behave’.
‘I’ve heard that all my life,’ she continued. ”You don’t follow the rules, you don’t do what you’re supposed to’.
”You’re always sticking your head above the parapet, you’re too direct, you tell the truth when you don’t need to tell the truth when you should pipe down’.’
Mrs Badenoch was born in Britain but spent her childhood in Nigeria and the US before she returned to the UK at the age of 16.
Elsewhere in the BBC interview, Mrs Badenoch revealed how the case of Austrian sex offender Josef Fritzl caused her to lose her faith in God.
She said she was ‘never that religious’ while growing up but ‘believed there was a God’ and ‘would have defined myself as a Christian apologist’.
But this changed in 2008 when she read reports that Fritzl had imprisoned and repeatedly raped his daughter, Elisabeth, in his basement over 24 years.
Mrs Badenoch, whose maternal grandfather was a Methodist minister, said: ‘I couldn’t stop reading this story. And I read her account, how she prayed every day to be rescued.
‘And I thought, I was praying for all sorts of stupid things and I was getting my prayers answered.
‘I was praying to have good grades, my hair should grow longer, and I would pray for the bus to come on time so I wouldn’t miss something.
‘It’s like, why were those prayers answered and not this woman’s prayers? And it just, it was like someone blew out a candle.’
But Mrs Badenoch insisted that while she had ‘rejected God’, she had not rejected Christianity and remained a ‘cultural Christian’.
She said she wanted to ‘protect certain things because I think the world that we have in the UK is very much built on many Christian values’.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, August 7, he hopes to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump next week—possibly in the United Arab Emirates—as diplomatic momentum builds toward a potential resolution of the war in Ukraine. However, the White House signaled that such a summit is unlikely unless Putin also agrees to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin’s remarks came just a day before a White House-imposed deadline for Moscow to demonstrate progress toward ending the nearly three-year-old war in Ukraine—or face a new wave of U.S. sanctions. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the sanctions are still expected to be announced Friday and said a U.S.-Russia summit would not happen unless Putin commits to engaging with Zelenskyy, either directly or through a sequential meeting.
Putin reiterated that he is open to talks with Zelenskyy “under certain conditions,” though he stopped short of specifying what those conditions might be. The Kremlin has consistently said such a meeting should only occur once substantive progress has been made through lower-level negotiations.
Despite speculation that the UAE could serve as the meeting venue, no formal location or schedule has been confirmed. Speaking in the Kremlin after a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Putin said both the U.S. and Russia had “expressed interest” in holding the summit.
The potential Trump-Putin summit has raised alarm in Kyiv, where officials fear being sidelined in backchannel negotiations between Washington and Moscow. In response, President Zelenskyy said Thursday that he had spoken with several European leaders, reaffirming the need for a multilateral approach.
“Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same boldness from Russia. It is time to end the war,” Zelenskyy said. He emphasized that any ceasefire must be tied to long-term security guarantees—something he believes must involve both the U.S. and Europe.
A recent Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s central Dnipro region killed four people and wounded eight others, Zelenskyy noted, criticizing Russia’s continued targeting of civilians even as peace discussions are floated.
Despite the White House’s insistence on including Zelenskyy in any peace process, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov downplayed that possibility. “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump,” Ushakov said, calling it the priority and noting that Ukraine’s involvement “was not specifically discussed.”
Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, echoed this view, saying a summit would allow Moscow to clearly communicate its stance and potentially explore mutual economic cooperation—including in rare earth elements.
If held, the summit would mark the first U.S.-Russia meeting since Trump returned to the presidency and the first bilateral summit between the two nations since President Joe Biden met with Putin in Geneva in 2021.
Trump, who has long admired Putin, has recently grown more critical. While he initially echoed some of Putin’s narratives on the war, Trump has since voiced frustration with the Kremlin’s rigid negotiating stance and has threatened new sanctions if progress isn’t made.
Amid diplomatic developments, Ukrainian public sentiment appears to be shifting. A new Gallup poll released Thursday found that nearly 70% of Ukrainians now support negotiating a peace deal as soon as possible. In contrast, in 2022, roughly 75% favored continuing the fight until full victory.
Only about one-quarter of respondents now favor prolonging the war, a view that has declined across all age groups and regions. The poll surveyed over 1,000 Ukrainians aged 15 and older, excluding areas under long-term Russian control.
In Kyiv, reactions to the proposed Trump-Putin summit were divided. “Negotiations are necessary, and we all really want the war to end … because this war will only end with negotiations,” said resident Ruslan Prindun.
Others, like Volodymyr Tasak, were more skeptical: “It’s unlikely anything good will come of U.S.-Russia talks. Zelenskyy is being squeezed out.”
Lyudmila Kostrova, meanwhile, dismissed Putin’s motivations entirely: “He just wants to avoid sanctions. He’s not interested in ending the war.”
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Six people have been k!lled after a small medical plane crashed into a building in a Kenyan neighborhood.
The crash occurred near the Mwihoko Secondary School in Utawala on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 7, according to a statement from Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general Emile N. Arao.
The Cessna Citation 560 ambulance aircraft went down shortly after departing from Wilson Airport around 2:15 p.m. local time, losing both radio and radar contact with Air Traffic Control three minutes after takeoff, Arao said.
The plane crashed into a building before going up in flames, according to The Kenya Times.
Four people were onboard the plane, which was headed to Hargeisa, Somalia, at the time of the crash, according to Arao.
All four people on the plane d!ed in the crash, as well as two who were on the ground, Reuters and Newsweek reported.
The two people on the ground were reportedly inside a home that was hit by the aircraft.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident involving an air ambulance mission,” Arao said in the statement. “Our immediate priority is to support rescue efforts and provide all necessary assistance to the families affected.”
The plane involved in the crash was run by AMREF Flying Doctors, Reuters reported.
AMREF said it is cooperating fully with authorities, according to Newsweek and Kenyan newspaper The Star.
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, Kenya CAA said.
This is coming less than 24 hours after Ghana’s Defence Minister, Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, d!ed in a tragic military helicopter crash that occurred on Wednesday in the Ashanti region, Reuters has reported.
According to Julius Debrah, Chief of Staff to President John Mahama, the crash also claimed the lives of three other government officials and three Air Force personnel who were on board.
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Kemi Badenoch recalls how she snitched on a fellow pupil for cheating in an exam and got him expelled
Putin expresses interest in meeting Trump as White House Presses for Ukraine Peace deal
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