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Ekpa, fake, leading a gang of criminals to destroy S’East – IPOB *Ends sit-at-home, permanently
To underscore its readiness to prove that it has no hands in the current killings in the South East and further distance itself from the imposition of sit-at-home order, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), on Saturday, began the distribution of flyers and posters across the South-East to notify residents of the cancellation of obnoxious phenomenon, which has crippled the economy of the region.
The pro-Biafran group, which stated that the exercise was aimed at conveying the order of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, cancelling the practice and to inform the people that it was not only “dead” but would also never again be invoked or deployed as a tool of civil disobedience in the group’s quest for self-determination, said that anybody, said: “Any person or persons talking about a non-existent sit-at-home in Biafraland is an enemy of the people and shall be dealt with accordingly.”
IPOB in a statement, by Emma Powerful, its spokesman, said on Saturday that the instructions to distribute the flyers by hand and poste them at various locations was authorised by the IPOB leader, said the phenomenon was gone forever.
Entitled Monday weekly sit-at-home: An ugly phase of a bygone history that must never be repeated as echoed by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the statement read: “This is to inform Biafrans about the flyers and posters being distributed all over Biafraland conveying our leader’s famous pronouncement canceling Monday sit-at-home and to inform Biafrans that sit-at-home is not only dead but will never again be invoked or deployed as a tool of civil disobedience in our quest for self-determination. Any person or persons talking about a non-existent sit-at-home in Igbo land is an enemy of the people and shall be dealt with accordingly.
“The instructions to distribute these flyers by hand and paste posters to this effect was authorised by our prophet and indefatigable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu. It is to be stated for the umpteenth time, for those who may feign ignorance of the laws governing the conduct expected of IPoB family worldwide, that Our supreme leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has ordered the permanent end to Monday sit-at-home in Biafraland and anybody seen enforcing this illegal and non-existent Monday sit-at-home will be apprehended and summarily dealt with on the spot.
“The criminal elements are not working for Biafra restoration nor the release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, who is unlawfully detained in the DSS solitary confinement in Abuja Nigeria. Those purporting to be running a Biafra Government in Exile, from somewhere in Finland, also known as Autopilot are not IPoB members and their activities do not represent the views of the supreme leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, rank and file IPoB membership nor ESN operatives.
“It is a shame to the memory of our brave martyrs that gave their lives for the emancipation of Biafra that individuals that never led ordinary street protests in Biafraland or anywhere in the world in support of Biafra restoration can claim to lead our people. This is an absolute disgrace.
“These shameless parasites and their sponsors are hoping that mere attachment of the name of our supreme leader, IPoB and ESN to their criminal enterprise will cloak them in the requisite legitimacy to continue duping the gullible of their hard-earned money. The social media Biafra Government in Exile, BGIE, has nothing to do with IPoB and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. IPoB supreme leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has nothing to do with them and will never have anything to do with them.
“Biafran struggle championed by IPoB does not have any government in exile and will never have any government in exile. People that never led a protest anywhere in the world, were never detained or held meetings with any international bodies can never claim to represent our people.
“We, therefore, encourage Biafrans to help in the distribution of the flyers, posters to communities, hinterlands, and cities in Biafraland, signifying the requiem mass for the senseless Monday sit-at-home. We warn once again that anybody apprehended enforcing any sit-at-home will regret his life and the self-acclaimed leader of BGIE will not save such a person.”
Chidi Odinkalu, Nigeria’s fiery lawyer, law teacher and former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), is emphatic that President Bola Tinubu is pushing to perpetuate himself in office, beginning with gaming the electoral process in 2027.
Odinkalu, Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School, told his host Naija Unfiltered, a popular Nigerian podcast programme, that he was as sure as death that the President would not exit office in 2031, if he succeeded with his current gambit to remain in power beyond next year.
Hear him: “Yes. But as I said, let me repeat myself. There’ll be a third term. President Tinubu has not done all of this just for another four years. There will be a third term. And anybody who is doing, ‘it is not our portion,’ is not reading the evidence.”
To achieve this aim, the activist, who was also emphatic that the National Assembly, would play a role, added: “The current National Assembly is anything but national or an assembly. And if it’s an assembly, it’s not a parliamentary one. Many people have called it a rubber stamp, but I think that is actually abusive of rubber stamps. I think this National Assembly is a disgrace.
Citing how bizarre and completely compliant the national legislature had become to Tinubu, the ex-NHRC’s boss, stated: “If you can change your national anthem in less than 24 hours with no public hearing, no public consultation, no public involvement, it tells you you don’t have a country because a national anthem is fundamental to the construction of a national identity.”
Also referring to the current move by the President to introduce state police, Odinkalu, wondered how the Nigerian Senate would introduce the bill to that effect and proceed towards the first and second readings, as well as committee stage and passage in less than two hours, questioning how that was possible in normal clime.
Hear him: “Once we finish our elections, we’re going to amend our Constitution, introduce a single six-year presidential term. The current incumbent will be elected until 2031. In 2031, what will happen? The question will be, will he be entitled to run on the six-year term or will he not?
“You will then get the best Senior Advocates in Nigeria telling you the law is not retrospective. That is why the administration is supporting the litigation over President Jonathan’s tenure—not because the Constitution is not clear, but because they will say there is precedent. There will be a third term, and I’m prepared to bet on it.”
“If we continue to pay ransom, we are encouraging these criminals to kidnap more people. The cycle will only continue unless we stop rewarding criminality,” were the words of Dauda Lawal, Governor of Zamfara State, with which he blamed those in the habit of paying ransoms as the major factor fuelling the current wave of kidnapping incidents across the country.
Lawal, on Thursday at the ARISE News/THISDAY Town Hall Conference on State Police and National Security in Abuja, told his audience how he flatly refused to pay a ₦300 million ransom demanded by kidnappers who abducted his brothers in 2019.
Reiterating his opposition to negotiating with bandits and renewed his support for the establishment of state police, Lawal, while recounting the incident, said: “My own brothers were kidnapped in 2019, and the kidnappers demanded about ₦300 million. I told them I was not going to pay a dime. If they wanted to kill them, they could go ahead.”
Stating that his brothers were eventually released without any ransom being paid, he argued that paying ransom usually emboldened criminal groups by providing financial incentives for further kidnappings.
He added: “My position on ransom payments remains unchanged. I will not negotiate, and I will not pay ransom to any criminal, no matter what happens.”
Endorsing the move for the establishment of state police, to enable governors have greater operational authority over security within their states, he regretted that the current constitutional arrangement left governors with responsibility for security without corresponding powers to direct security agencies.
His words: “In as much as I am called the chief security officer of the state, I do not have the command-and-control authority to direct the operations of the security agencies. I’m prepared to support the funding of state police if the proposed policing structure is established. I’m confident that decentralised policing will improve intelligence gathering, response time and the overall fight against insecurity.”
Exactly seven years, two months and four days after he forced Walter Onnoghen, the 16th Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) out of office, Danladi Umar, former Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), on Thursday, found himself in Kuje prison.
Justice Peter Kekemeke, of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sitting in Maitama, handed the ex-CCT boss the unwelcome package on Thursday, following his arraignment by the Federal Government on a four-count corruption charge.
Umar’s ordeal began after an investigations revealed that he abused his official position by conferring an undue advantage on himself while serving as head of the tribunal, having in 2021, reportedly using his wife’s bank account to collect the sum of N5.5 million from a contractor engaged to paint the headquarters of the CCT in Abuja.
He was also accuse of using the same account to collect another N6million on January 25, 2024, from a contractor who handled the digitisation of the CCT’s records and yet another N2.43 million a contractor paid as tuition fee of his daughter at Baze University, Abuja.
After pleading not guilty to offences, said to be punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, Christopher Mshelia, lawyer to the FG, prosecuting the matter, applied for his remand in a correctional facility, while urging the court to set a date for the commencement of trial.
His pleas to be freed on bail pending the determination of the case, was opposed by the prosecution, which drew the court’s attention to the fact that it had just been served with the bail application, saying it needed time to respond to it, forcing Kekemeke to adjourn the case till July 15 for hearing while the former CCT boss remained behind bars.
Umar, had as CCT Chairman, on January 23, 2019, issued a controversial ex parte order that led to the removal of a serving Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen.
Following the ex parte order, the late President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 25, swore in the next most senior jurist of the Supreme Court, Justice Tanko Muhammad, to take over the leadership of the judiciary as Acting CJN.
Even though Onnoghen later voluntarily resigned his position as CJN on April 4, Umar went ahead and convicted him on April 18, 2019, on the federal government’s allegation that he had failed to properly declare his assets as required by law.
He gave the federal government the go-ahead to confiscate all monies in five accounts belonging to the former CJN, and also removed him as Chairman of both the NJC and the Federal Judiciary Service Commission (FJSC).
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