News
Nothing like founding father, we’ve no leader outside Kanu – IPOB
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), is calling out the Nigerian Army over the claim of the arrest of a supposed founding leader of the group, a position it says does not exist as Nnamdi Kanu remains the only known leader and founder of the organisation.
The group said the army were only exhibiting their penchant for intimidating and misleading the judges handling the case of Kanu, currently standing trial before a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Kanu, who has been in detention at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS), since he was brought back to Nigeria from Kenya has continued to insist that he was not culpable of the various crimes slammed against him including treasonable felony and at the last appearance, had requested Justice Binta Murtala Nyako, had recused herself from his trial, which the judge acceded to.
However, Justice John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, has since returned the case to Nyako, to continue the trial on the ground that two other judges had previously handled the case since it started in 2015 and that it was assigned to her to ensure speedy trial and to end the delay.
Edward Buba, Director, Defence Media Operations, who spoke at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, October 24, 2024, had announced the arrest of the said IPOB founder, saying: “Troops at Forward Operation Base, Orsu, conducted a sting operation that culminated in the arrest of an IPOB terrorist leader. The arrested terrorist leader, identified as Pius Iguh, is a founding father of the ESN group in the Orsu general area of Imo State.
“Similarly, troops at FOB Amaruku conducted a raid that resulted in the arrest of another IPOB terrorist commander identified as Emmanuel Onwugu. He was arrested in Mbano LGA of Abia State.
But IPOB, in a statement by Emma Powerful, its spokesman, waved off the claim as falsehood and a lie from the pit of hell, adding that it is one of the lies and fake news the Nigerian Army has been using to intimidate and mislead the judges handling the case of Kanu.
The statement, said: “Nigerian Army should stop intimidating and misleading the judges with fake news about IPoB. Each time the case of its leader draws closer, the Nigerian Army will come up with fake news or arresting or killing IPoB member.
“We urge the Nigerian Army to stop showing the Nigerian public and the world that it has no class, no honour and no dignity, adding that the history of how IPoB was founded is a matter of public knowledge that predates the childish antics by the media department of the Nigerian Army.
“Are the people handling Nigerian Army media telling us they are not aware that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was the founder and leader of IPoB before they invaded his house to kill him in his Umuahia home on October 14, 2017? Is the Nigerian Army ignorant of the leading count in the unlawful charges levelled against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, to the effect that he is the founder and leader of IPoB?
“How come the new founder of IPoB has emerged from the Nigerian Army after the arrest of criminals they have been parading as IPoB? The Nigerian Army should stop giving the impression that it has no class, no honour and no dignity.
“We, the great and noble family of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, led by our indomitable leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to bring the latest pathetic attempt by Nigerian Army in a long line of previous wretched attempts to influence the justices in the upcoming case of our leader Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
“The illegal proscription of IPoB will surely fail as all previous attempts did. Not content with using gullible media houses under their payroll to demonize IPoB, the Nigerian Army has now gone one step further in the voyage of ridiculousness by stating that they arrested the “founding father of IPoB” whom IPoB did not know.
“The question any sensible person should ask is where on earth is the founding mother of IPoB now the Nigerian Army has claimed they have arrested the founding father of IPoB? What sort of officer and gentleman will agree to be trotted out in front of cameras and microphones to make a mockery of the image of the Nigerian Army? That shows, No class, no honour, no dignity.
“The history of how IPoB was founded is a matter of public knowledge that predates these childish antics by the media department of the Nigerian Army. Are the people handling the Nigerian Army telling us they are not aware that Mazi Nnamdi Kanu was the founder and leader of IPOB before they invaded his house to kill him on October 14, 2017? Is the army ignorant of the leading count in the unlawful charges levelled against Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to the effect that he is the founder and leader of IPoB?
“Anytime there is a court case involving Mazi Nnamdi Kanu or IPoB, these same shameless characters from the Nigerian Amy will conduct their sham press conference to pressure the Justices scheduled to hear the matter to either adjourn the case or deliver biased judgment against Mazi Nnamdi Okwu Kanu and IPoB.
“This nonsense has to stop and the public is hereby urged to disregard such blatant and shameless propaganda. Next time they should tell us who the founding mother of IPoB is.”
Fuel marketers across Abuja on Wednesday continued to sell Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol, at old prices more than 24 hours after Dangote Petroleum Refinery announced a reduction in its ex-depot price, Vanguard is reporting.
The paper reported that its investigation, showed that major retail outlets were yet to adjust their pump prices despite the N75 per litre reduction announced by the refinery on Monday.
At the retail stations visited in Abuja, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Retail and TotalEnergies dispensed petrol at N1,335 per litre, while AA Rano sold at N1,350 per litre. AYM Shafa and Conoil outlets sold the product at N1,330 per litre.
The development comes amid growing public expectations that the reduction in Dangote Refinery’s gantry price would quickly translate into lower pump prices nationwide.
Explaining the delay, the President of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN), Dr. Billy Gillis-Harry, said retail prices are influenced by several factors beyond refinery gate prices.
Speaking to Channels TV, Gillis-Harry said: “Prices reflecting at the pump are dependent on availability of the product, the other is the cost. The cost of purchasing the product and cost in terms of logistics, and preparing the particular petroleum to be delivered to the people”.
According to him, downward price adjustments often take longer to reach consumers because marketers need to recover the cost of existing stock purchased at higher prices before restocking at lower rates.
When asked why increases in fuel prices are usually reflected immediately while reductions are delayed, Gillis-Harry said the dynamics of supply management play a significant role.
He explained: “It is mainly affected by whether the producer has additional resources or not at the time. Increases in prices are mainly caused by the need to restock. There must be that advantage pushing the price upward to be able to pay for new supplies.”
He further acknowledged that marketers generally seek to exhaust existing inventory before implementing lower prices.
“That’s the basic idea. But in petroleum, a mixture is involved, and loss is taken, though not in a way that affects the capital needed to restock,” he added.
Also speaking on the issue, energy analyst Olabode Sowunmi said fuel pricing in Nigeria is influenced by a combination of domestic supply arrangements and logistics costs, rather than crude oil prices alone.
He noted that although international crude oil prices remain an important factor globally, their impact on local petrol pricing is not always direct.
“Global price of crude oil is a factor internationally and not necessarily in Nigeria,” Sowunmi said.
Explaining that Dangote Refinery operates under arrangements that allow a portion of crude supply to be priced in naira, reducing the direct impact of international market fluctuations on local fuel prices, he said: “So basically the issue will have to be from the point of refinery to where it touches the final person. Logistics costs within the domestic supply chain remain a major determinant of the final pump price paid by consumers.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
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