Detention
How Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Kenya – brother
The brother to the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Kingsley Kanu, has said Nnamdi Kanu was nabbed while taking a walk in Kenya. While announcing the arrest of the IPOB leader last month, Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation, had refused to disclose the location where he was nabbed. But Kingsley had issued a statement in which he said his brother was picked up in Kenya from where he was moved to Abuja. In an interview with UK Guardian, Kingsley said he spoke with his fugitive brother before his arrest. Kanu was standing trial for treason in Nigeria before he jumped bail. “His UK passport remains in Kenya,” The UK Guardian quoted him to have said. “I spoke to him on the phone, he was well, in Nairobi. His associates said he went out, he didn’t take...
Myanmar protesters burn junta leader’s images on his birthday
Protesters burned mock coffins and pictures of Myanmar’s army ruler Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday in the latest demonstrations against the coup over five months ago that has plunged the Southeast Asian country into chaos. “May you not rest in peace” and “may your birthday and deathday be the same,” read the messages on funeral wreaths in Theinzayet township in eastern Mon state. Similar protests took place in many parts of Myanmar. “We are burning this as a curse,” said one protester in the second city of Mandalay, setting ablaze a small pile of picture of the general, 65. A spokesman for the military authorities did not respond to requests for comment. Min Aung Hlaing took power on Feb. 1, overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and cutting short a decade of democratic reforms that had...
FRSC to auction unclaimed vehicles in Akwa Ibom
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Akwa Ibom Command, on Wednesday said that it would auction all unclaimed vehicles in its custody. In a statement issued by Mr Paul James, the command’s Public Enlightenment / Public Relations Officer said that all vehicles impounded within the last six months and unclaimed would soon be auctioned. James said the corps reserved the right to invoke relevant sections of the law to auction any impounded vehicles not claimed after six months. He said traffic offenders offered with offence sheets and their documents confiscated and vehicles impounded should claim their vehicles or be auctioned. “Consequently, traffic offenders who are issued with notice of offence sheet, either have their documents confiscated or vehicles impounded to secure payment of their...
IPOB’s lawyer reacts to Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest, extradition
The lead counsel to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has said the arrest and arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu earlier Tuesday was without his knowledge. “We have just confirmed through a correspondence from the Federal High Court Abuja about the arrest and the extradition of my Client- Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian State,” Mr Ejiofor said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “He was brought before the Federal High Court No 2 Abuja today on an Eleven count charge, though without our knowledge,” the attorney added. He said regardless of the offences or charge against his client, he is still presumed innocent of the allegation under the law. Mr Kanu, who is being prosecuted on charges of treasonable felony, was re-arrested and returned to Nigeria on Sunday, the A...
NGO calls for prosecution of security operatives who torture suspects
Access to Justice, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on judicial reforms, has called for the prosecution of security operatives who torture suspects. The NGO on Monday released a statement signed by Joseph Otteh, its convener, and Deji Ajare, project director, to commemorate the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Access to Justice said despite the fact that the Anti-Torture Act 2017 prohibits the torture of suspects, security agencies in Nigeria still engage in “brutal and inhumane tactics”. It noted that since the enactment of the act, no one has been prosecuted for perpetrating acts of torture. The NGO called on Abubakar Malami, the attorney-general of the federation, to as matter of urgency make the “rules and regulations for the effective implementation of t...
Laurent Gbagbo files for divorce, to end 30-year marriage
Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce on Monday from his wife of three decades, his lawyer said, days after his highly anticipated return to the country. Gbagbo’s lawyer Claude Mentenon said in a statement that after years of “rejected requests for Simone Ehivet to consent to an amicable separation”, the ex-president had asked an Abidjan court for a divorce. The announcement comes four days after Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast following a decade’s absence, during which he was tried for crimes against humanity during the post-election conflict of 2010-11. Simone Gbagbo wielded significant political influence as first lady, and was arrested alongside her husband in April 2011 after he refused to concede defeat, sparking a conflict that left some 3,000 people dead. G...
Court restrains Ondo governor from sacking chief judge
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, stopped Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State from removing the Chief Judge (CJ) of the state, Justice Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, from office. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, restrained the governor and five others seeking to remove the Chief Judge from office on the grounds that they lacked constitutional powers to do so. Justice Akeredolu had approached the court for an order restraining the defendants from illegally removing her from office without recourse to the National Judicial Council (NJC). Delivering ruling in the application, Justice Ekwo held that the powers to investigate, probe and indict any judicial officer for any misconduct in the discharge of duties is constitutionally vested in the NJC only. According to the judge, b...
June 12 protest: Police arrest Agba Jalingo
A right activist and a newspaper publisher, Agba Jalingo, has been arrested by the police in Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria’s South-south. Jalingo is the publisher of Cross River Watch, an online newspaper with focus on Cross River State. He was arrested at the police headquarters, Calabar, on Friday where he went to honour an invitation by the Commissioner of Police in the State, Kayode Sikiru, Cross River Watch said in a report. The newspaper said Sikiru invited Jalingo to the police headquarters to discuss the planned nationwide June 12 protest which the latter is said to be coordinating in the state. After discussions, Jalingo was reportedly referred to another officer who informed him that the police had received a petition which accused him of being an arms dealer, the newspaper...
Ex-soldiers: We trained 4,400 IPOB militias after Nnamdi Kanu promised us rank of General in Biafra Republic
Operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team have arrested three dismissed soldiers, who allegedly partook in the training of 4,400 members of the Eastern Security Network for the Indigenous People of Biafra. The suspects have been identified as Linus Owalo, Godswill Steven and Chinasa Orji. They were arrested recently after operatives of the IRT, while following a tip-off from some members of IPOB, raided the group’s hideouts in Imo, Anambra and Delta States and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. ESN is the armed wing of the POB. IPOB and ESN have been accused by the police of being responsible for the attacks and killings of security operatives as well as burning of police stations and government infrastructure across the South East and South South regions of the country. IPOB a...
Senator Okorocha: Police still holding two of my political allies
Former governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha has appealed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to save two political allies, Casmir Ugbor and Ojukwu Ukonu, who he said were wrongly arrested and linked as suspects of the jailbreak of April 5. The two suspects in police custody, according to a statement the senator released through his media adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, were arrested alongside their wives for offence he said they never committed. Senator Okorocha claimed that their only offence was that they belong to his political family. The senator has also faulted the police on the date it stated it arrested the duo, insisting that they were arrested three weeks ago and not on May 27 as it now claimed in their recent press statement. Okorocha said: ‘In the press release, we called on the Co...
UN secretary-general calls for release of civilian leaders in Mali
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for civilian leaders in Mali to be released, after military officers upset with a government reshuffle detained the president and prime minister at an army camp. “I am deeply concerned by news of detention of civilian leaders of the Malian transition,” Guterres said on Twitter. He continued: “I call for calm & their unconditional release.” President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane lead an interim government, installed under the threat of regional sanctions following a putsch in August, and the detentions on Monday raised fears of a second coup. Two senior officials, who declined to be named, told AFP that soldiers had taken Ndaw and Ouane to the Kati military camp on the outskirts of Bamako. Their detentions fo...
Ogun governor suspends aide arrested for ‘fraud’ in US
The governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, has suspended his aide, Abidemi Rufai, who was arrested in the United States for an alleged $350,000 (about N140 million) COVID-19 unemployment fraud. Kunle Somorin, Abiodun’s chief press secretary, confirmed the suspension to newsmen on Tuesday. This was also confirmed to newsmen by the chief press secretary to Abiodun, Kunle Somorin. “Our position is that the law should take its course,” Somorin said in a WhatsApp interview. “Meanwhile, the governor has ordered his immediate suspension from office to answer charges against him.” Sources within the government told newsmen that the governor took the action immediately he was briefed about Rufai’s arrest. This newspaper earlier reported that Rufai, Senior Special Assistant to Abiodun, was arrested l...
