News
Kanu writes NBA: Why standby and watch judges destroy judiciary?
Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has taken his case to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), wondering why the body would be watching from the sidelines as judges engage in gross misconducts and violations the Nigerian constitution through sheer impunity.
The IPOB boss, who has been in detention facility of the Department of State Services (DSS), since 2021, when he was brought back from Kenya in what has been described as not only forceful manner but rendition by his lawyers, claimed that his constitutional rights, had been brutally attacked by the Nigerian authorities.
Conveying his misgivings to the Afam Osigwe, President of the lawyers’ body via a petition dated August 18, Kanu, wrote: “This is not merely a letter of a persecuted man; it is a bill of indictment against a segment of the Nigerian judiciary that has, in my case, converted courts of law into arenas of impunity.
Specifically fingering Binta Nyako, of the Federal High Court, Haruna Tsammani, former justice of the Court of Appeal, and Garba Mohammed Lawal of the Supreme Court, as some the culprits, he reminded the lawyers of how Nyako remanded him illegally without fair hearing, contrary to section 293 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and section 36 (1) of the constitution.
For the judge, who had since recused herself from his case after she was accused of bias to have failed to inquire into his absence from trial in 2017 after the Nigerian Army allegedly invaded his home in Abia state — an incident he claimed forced him into exile, only to go ahead to order his remand, he said it showed how his traducers used her to achieve their aims.
He added: “I deposed to this fact in an affidavit from Israel where I had sought safety. Justice Nyako refused to inquire into it. Justice Tsammani’s panel then granted a stay of execution on this criminal discharge — an aberration unknown to law. This device detained me 14 months without charge — a direct assault on Section 36 (1) CFRN and Article 7 African Charter. A discharge on ground of want of jurisdiction is as good as an acquittal.
“The Supreme Court itself, Court of Appeal of Nigeria (which discharged me), the Federal High Court (which declared my extraordinary rendition illegal), the Kenyan High Court, UN Special Rapporteur opinions, and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) have confirmed that I was abducted, tortured, and extraordinarily-renditioned from Kenya in violation of domestic and international law.
“I urge the NBA to investigate Justices Binta Nyako, Haruna Tsammani, and Garba Lawal for gross judicial misconduct. Publish a report condemning use of civil procedures to subvert criminal law, and the resurrection of repealed statutes.
“This case is not only about me. It is about whether Nigeria’s judiciary is bound by law or by impunity. The Constitution, statutes, and international treaties have all been shredded. The Bar cannot be silent. He who is silent is taken to agree. Silence now would make the NBA complicit in the erosion of Nigeria’s legal foundations.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
-
News5 days agoBREAKING: Mystery death! *Female student dies a day after arriving Umahi’s home!
-
News5 days agoDon’t jump to conclusion! *Umahi speaks on mysterious death of female students!
-
News3 weeks agoBREAKING: Court sentences Nigerien, two others to death over terrorism
-
News2 weeks agoBREAKING: EX-SSG mowed down by gunmen! *He resisted being kidnapped – driver
-
News4 weeks agoTwo hours after Igboho’s ‘red-eyes’ to ‘Fulani’ leaders, gunmen free kidnap victims!
-
News3 weeks agoAbductors of Oyo teachers panicking, freedom coming for victims soon!
-
News17 hours agoBREAKING: Terrorists strikes another school! *Kidnap principal, students, NECO official!
-
News3 weeks agoChicagogate: Nigerians return to court! *Move to stop Tinubu from 2027 polls