IMO BREAKING NEWS BLOG

Liz Truss on Tuesday officially became Britain’s new prime minister, at an audience with head of state Queen Elizabeth II after the resignation of Boris Johnson. The former foreign secretary, 47, was seen in an official photograph shaking hands with the monarch to accept her offer to form a new government and become the 15th prime minister of her 70-year reign.

The symbolic ceremony took place at the sovereign’s remote Balmoral retreat in the Scottish Highlands, as the queen, 96, was deemed unfit to return to London due to ill health. “The queen received in audience the right honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new administration,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

“Ms Truss accepted Her Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon her appointment as prime minister. The last time the handover of power took place at Balmoral was in 1885, when Queen Victoria was on the throne. Normally, the outgoing and incoming prime minister meet the queen in quick succession at Buckingham Palace in central London.

It has only been held once outside London since 1952, when Winston Churchill met the new queen at Heathrow Airport after the death of her father, King George VI.

Wolves have launched an appeal to the Football Association after failing to gain a work permit for Diego Costa. Costa is travelling to Wolves' Compton training base as the Premier League club wait for news of their appeal.

The former Chelsea striker has been on trial with Wolves this week as the club look for cover following injuries to Sasa Kalajdzic and Raul Jimenez.

Costa, 33, is a free agent having been without a club since leaving Brazilian side Atletico Mineiro in January.

He has not played a professional game since 12 December and his lack of action in recent months meant he did not automatically qualify for a work permit.

Chelsea have sacked manager Thomas Tuchel following Tuesday's night's Champions League defeat by Dinamo Zagreb. The 49-year-old former Borussia Dortmund and Paris St-Germain boss leaves Stamford Bridge after 20 months. Owner Todd Boehly has placed Tuchel's coaching staff in temporary charge until a replacement is found.

A club statement said the owners believe it is "the right time" to bring in a new head coach. "As the new ownership group reaches 100 days since taking over the Club, and as it continues its hard work to take the club forward, the new owners believe it is the right time to make this transition," the statement read.

"On behalf of everyone at Chelsea FC, the club would like to place on record its gratitude to Thomas and his staff for all their efforts during their time with the club. Thomas will rightly have a place in Chelsea's history after winning the Champions League, the Super Cup and Club World Cup in his time here."

Tuchel was appointed on 26 January, 2021, replacing Frank Lampard, and guided the club to their second Champions League title just four months later. He went on to add the Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup later that year.

At least 18 governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party in next year’s elections on Tuesday night met with Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in a new attempt to resolve the impasse in the party.

The candidates arrived the private home of the Rivers governor in Port Harcourt, the state capital, at 8pm on Tuesday for a closed-door meeting that lasted till about 11pm. The candidates in attendance include that of Kaduna, Plateau, Katsina, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Benue, Sokoto, Jigawa, Borneo and Yobe. Others are, Kwara, Kanu, Lagos, Niger, Ogun, Cross River, Delta, and Rivers. 

After the meeting, the Chairman of the PDP Governorship Candidates Forum and Governorship Candidate of Kaduna State, Isa Ashiru, told journalists that they are hopeful the discussion with Wike, which comes a few days after their meeting with the Presidential Candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, will go a long way in resolving the internal crisis.

He said their next line of action is to meet with the National Working Committee of the party.

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State was conspicuously absent on Wednesday when the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party met the 2023 presidential aspirants of the party at his Asokoro residence in Abuja.

In attendance at the meeting include Dele Momodu, Mohammed Hayatu-Deen, Tari Oliver, and Charles Ugwu. Atiku commended them for accepting the outcome of the convention that produced him as the PDP flag bearer, and for not raising the dust. 

He promised to work with all of them ahead of the 2023 general elections, adding that they have various roles to play in his victory at the polls. At the primary in May, Atiku polled 371 to defeat his closest rival, Wike, who polled 237 votes.

Following the outcome of the primary, Wike has been at loggerheads with Atiku over his choice of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate. Wike has also demanded the resignation of the party’s national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, for a southern replacement.

The Federal Government has threatened to sanction foreign airlines operating in the country but refuse to accept naira payment for flight tickets. The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, made this known at a briefing today after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said intelligence reports indicated that some of the airlines refuse to sell in naira but charge ticket fares in dollars instead, in violation of Nigerian laws. The minister disclosed that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has been directed to deal with any of such airlines that are caught flouting the laws.

Sirika cautioned them to refrain from using the social media to place their demands rather than resorting to the diplomatic channels. According to him, foreign airlines have made over 1.1 billion dollars so far from Nigeria since 2016, an amount which could have remained in the country if they were local airlines.

He further revealed that the airlines remitted over 600 million dollars to their home countries in 2016, while over 265 million dollars has also been released this year.