Politics

Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato, Boris Johnson urges

Published

1 year ago

September 19, 2024

Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato ‘now’, Boris Johnson has urged.

The former prime minister has said the move would be the ‘single biggest step’ the West could take to end Russia‘s war.

He admitted the United States and its allies would be alarmed about Ukraine joining the military alliance while fighting was ongoing.

It would mean all 32 Nato member states would have to commit to Ukraine’s defence.

But writing in today’s Spectator, he argues: ‘The risk is that we continue with the ambiguity and indecision over the future of Ukraine that has led to the worst war in Europe in my lifetime.

Ukraine should be allowed to join Nato ‘now’, Boris Johnson (left) has urged. Mr Johnson is pictured shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (right) in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, September 13, 2024

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (right) said after a summit in Washington in July that Nato had ‘confirmed Ukraine’s irreversible path to full membership’. Yet earlier this year, US President Joe Biden (left) said he was ‘not prepared to support the Nato-isation of Ukraine’. Sir Keir and President Biden are pictured together at the summit in DC on July 10, 2024

‘If we want peace, then we must put the Ukrainians in the strongest possible position, and this is how to do it.’

Ukraine has long sought membership of Nato and gained ‘aspiring member’ status in 2018, four years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but not all western leaders have been enthusiastic.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky stepped up the demand in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion in early 2022. However, at a summit last year Nato leaders said Ukraine could join only once it had completed ‘democratic and security sector reforms‘.

At the time, Mr Johnson said there should have been a timetable for membership ‘as soon as victory is won’. Now the former foreign secretary goes further, arguing: ‘We could invite Ukraine to join before the war is even over.’

‘We need to get Ukraine into Nato now, and I mean now,’ he writes. He suggests the critical Article 5 security guarantee – which means an attack on one Nato member is seen as an attack on all – could be extended to cover territory currently controlled by Kyiv, while allies should also reaffirm the country’s right to its borders.

‘We could protect most of Ukraine, while simultaneously supporting the Ukrainian right to recapture the rest,’ Mr Johnson writes, adding: ‘This is the single biggest step we can take to bring this hideous war to an end.

‘We would send the crucial message to the Kremlin, the one Russians really need to hear. The message is: that’s it. It’s over. You don’t have an empire any more.’

A Ukrainian tank of the 110th brigade moves through a field as it returns from a position at the frontline on Pokrovsk direction, Donetsk region, Ukraine on Wednesday, September 18, 2024

A heavily damaged and partially destroyed house following a Russian attack on the village of Komyshuvakha in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region on September 17, 2024

He admits the decision depends above all on the US. Sir Keir Starmer said after a summit in Washington in July that Nato had ‘confirmed Ukraine’s irreversible path to full membership’.

Yet earlier this year, US President Joe Biden said he was ‘not prepared to support the Nato-isation of Ukraine’.

Mr Johnson adds: ‘We would all have to commit to the defence of that Ukrainian territory. And of course that will mean anxiety and resistance.’

He also renewed his call for Mr Biden and the Prime Minister to allow Ukraine to fire western Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory, after talks last week between the pair failed to lead to a breakthrough.

Politics

Nyesom Wike wishes de@th on any politician supporting ‘’betrayers’

Published

5 hours ago

February 7, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

FCT Minister and former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike, has said that any senator, House of Representatives Member, Minister, or governor who supports betrayers will suffer betrayal in their lives and that such person will join their creator when they experience their own betrayal.

Wike who is currently in a running battle with his godson and incumbent governor of Rivers state, Sim Fubara, said this while speaking at a public function in the state today February 6.

Speaking to the crowd at the public function, Wike said

‘’Wether you are a Senator, House of Reps member, a Minister or Governor, and you support betrayers, people will continue to betray you in life. You see people who betray and support them, betrayal is your portion! Betrayal is your portion! and that day you will not have mouth to say anything and there you will collapse and there you will go and they will announce such person has died because that is the seed you have planted because whatever you plant, you reap and so since you are sowing betrayal, betrayal will always follow you.

Watch! Every governor who is doing his second term and has ambition to put a successor and is supporting betrayals, you will never survive it. Betrayal will follow you. From the day your successor comes in. My own took so many months, your own will start immediately the person has been inaugurated. That is what the gods of the land have told me to tell all of you’’

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUdaCp1jD01/?igsh=MWVnZXoyaGNmOGJ5dA==

Politics

How Buhari shocked me 6 months into his administration – Oyegun

Published

10 hours ago

February 7, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Chairman, Policy Manifesto Committee of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, John Odigie-Oyegun, says former president Muhammadu Buhari gave him the shock of his life, six months into his administration as Nigeria’s leader.

Oyegun made this disclosure on Friday when he featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’.

He revealed that as National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, he went to tell Buhari that he was not delivering his election promises to Nigerians but that the late president told him he would not rule with strictness, but rather wanted to show Nigerians that he is a true civilian president.

The former APC National Chairman lamented that it became business as usual, from there.

“I was national chairman of the APC. Six months or less into our assuming office, fairly alarmed, I went to the late President Buhari for a one-on-one talk. I said Mr President, this is not what the people were expecting. They wanted a bit of the old president Buhari.

“And he explained to me, Mr Chairman, I have learned my lesson. I was shocked. And don’t forget at that time, a lot of prominent Nigerians took their holidays abroad, just to be sure and see what this new sheriff in town will be.

“Buhari told me he wants to now show the people that he’s a true civilian president in Agbada. And by the time we finished the conversation, I said Oh God, we are finished. Because, if he’s not ready to be strict, what’s the point?

“Weeks later, months later, years later, I was proven correct. And of course, it became business as usual, only that they are a new set of tenants in Aso Rock. That was a shocker,” he said.

Politics

Electoral Reform: Dino alleges senate’s plot to rig 2027 election

Published

1 day ago

February 6, 2026

Ekwutos Blog

Former lawmaker, Dino Melaye Esq, has raised concerns over the Senate’s reported rejection of the electronic transmission of election results.

The move, according to Melaye, is a clear endorsement of election rigging and an indication of a sinister plan to rig the 2027 elections.

In a statement on Friday, the former lawmaker criticized the Senate’s decision, stating that it undermines the credibility of the electoral process.

The African Democratic Congress, ADC chieftain, also stated that the move opens the door for electoral manipulation and fraud.

He further warned that the rejection of electronic transmission of results is a step backwards for democracy in Nigeria.

Melaye called on lawmakers and citizens to stand up against “this blatant attempt to undermine the will of the people and ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent”.