₦airaland Forum

The new three-man panel is led by Justice Ibrahim Salauwa of the Calabar Division of the Appeal Court.

An official of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), simply identified as Emmanuel, has been arrested for alleged attempted murder of a female police officer.

Emmanuel allegedly broke the jaw of the victim while manhandling her, strangled and left her in coma.

Prior to the tragic incident, the victim, who is an Assistant Superintendent of Police at D Division, Akwa Ibom State Command, was said to have been in a relationship with the suspect for some time.

It was learnt that problem started when the lady found out that the NAPTIP official is married to another woman and insisted that she could not marry him as second wife.

But on the fateful day, Emmanuel when to the victim’s house at night to pressure to become his second wife but the woman refused.

This resulted in an argument. At the height of the argument, Emmanuel allegedly gave her the beating of her life and took to his heels when the victim collapsed in a pool of blood. At press time, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Cordelia Nwawe, did not pick several calls sent to her mobile line.

THE price of infidelity could be more expensive than what the cheater bargained for!

A married Bulawayo woman learnt the hard way that cheating does not pay after she was exposed following the death of her widowed lover whom she had spent the night with at his house in Mpopoma suburb.

It is alleged that when tragedy struck, the two-timing woman Somakuliphi Hlabangana had lied to her husband Nebson Tshuma that she was visiting a relative in Magwegwe North yet she was going for a sleepover at her now deceased lover Life Ndlovu’s house.

It is reported that when she woke up and realised that the 54-year-old Ndlovu had collapsed and died in the toilet, Hlabangana disappeared from the scene and her whereabouts are still unknown up to now.

The incident which was confirmed by Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango happened on 12 October.

“We received a case of a sudden death which happened in Mpopoma involving a 54-year-old man who collapsed and died in the toilet and investigations are in progress,” she said.

B-Metro gathered that two days before the tragic incident Ndlovu and Hlabangana went on a picnic in Filabusi where the former came back complaining of stomach pains.

A tenant who spoke to B-Metro said before Ndlovu’s death, Hlabangana, who stays in the same suburb, was a regular visitor at his house.

She was allegedly going to Ndlovu’s house lying to her husband that she would be visiting a prophet.

“The woman was always coming here to see Malume (as Ndlovu was known in the suburb) and on Sunday when they came back from Filabusi where they had gone together Malume started complaining of stomach pains saying he suspected that it was the water he drank during their expedition.

“From that day his condition started deteriorating as he was always vomiting until the day he was found dead in the toilet.

I am the one who raised alarm and called neighbours after I became suspicious that the door had been locked for a long time,” said the distressed tenant.

The tenant said neighbours forced the door open and found Life’s lifeless body lying across the chamber.

“Hlabangana who was by that time present at the house and suspected to have spent the night with him immediately disappeared from the scene when his body was being removed from the toilet,” the source added.

Ndlovu’s 32-year-old son, Thamsanqa said the family was still struggling to come to terms with his father’s sudden death.

“I was in South Africa when I received the news. I can’t say much since the matter is being investigated by the police.

The only information we have at hand as a family is that the day my father died he had spent the night with another woman who later disappeared when his body was being retrieved from the toilet. As a family all we want from the woman is to help us with information of what really transpired on the fateful day,” said Thamsanqa.

Although Hlabangana could not be located for comment her husband Tshuma confirmed the incident.

“I am still confused and trying to come to terms with the incident. I just heard from residents that my wife was always seen at Ndlovu’s house, even on the day he died she did not sleep at home. From that day I never talked to her and she disappeared from home. I am suspecting that she is in Magwegwe North and I am surprised why she is running away from home,” he said.

lalasticlala

Contact17:
I firmly believe in- if you see something you like, grab it before someone else does. If it's someone I like and can see myself with, I have absolutely no problem stating my intentions or 'making the first move'.

Kerosene explosion has killed two children and injured three others in Akwa Ibom State.

According to an eyewitness, the incident occurred in Ikono Ibom Clan in Uyo Local Government Area of the state.

One Mr. Nsikak Michael, a tricycle operator and father of three suffered severe burns from the kerosene explosion, which also resulted in the death of two of his children.

According to Nsikak, who also operates a small poultry farm near his house in Ikot Enyingne Ikono, “I bought kerosene from a filling station along Idoro road as I closed from my Keke business.

“Upon getting home, I decided to light up the lantern in my poultry farm to keep my birds warm but needed to top up the kerosene in the lamp as it was soon going off.

“So I came out of the poultry farm just as my kids followed. As I attempted to light up the lantern there was a loud explosion with a big flame of fire which left me unconscious.”

One of the two children died few hours after, while the other died the following day at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, UUTH, where they were rushed to treatments.

The Chairman of Uyo Local Government Transition Committee, Mfon Ben and Wife, Bridget visited the victim Mr. Nsikak who lies critically ill at the Hospital as a mark of concern and love for the people.

Not a single out of the 21 released Chibok schoolgirls was assaulted during the two years spent in Boko Haram captivity.

Quoting a source close to negotiations to free the remaining of those abducted in April 2014, NAN dismissed reports that the only girl who came back with a child was impregnated by an insurgent.

The agency said the girl was pregnant before her abduction.

“The girl and her parents have confirmed this. The child is not a Boko Haram Child,” the source reportedly said.

“None of the girls released was sexually harassed or abused while in captivity by their abductors.

“The current state of the girls is a source of joy as they are receiving the best medical, psychological and other forms of support from the authorities as directed by the federal government.

“All groups including the families, The Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) and Chibok Community are happy with their condition as medical experts work to address their health conditions.

“The girls have been visited by members of International Committee of the Red Cross, which played a great role in getting the girls freed.

“It is obvious to everyone that having been in captivity, the girls were traumatised but since their release, they are showing signs of recovery.”

Speculative reports about the state of the freed captives, are said to be creating stumbling blocks to further talks with the insurgents.

The insurgents were said to be angry with government for breaching some understanding reached with them when the 21 girls were being handed over on October 13.

Wole Shadare


Two weeks after the Federal Government carried out major pruning of workforce in the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) leading to the demotion of its top managers, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is set to be hit with similar exercise.

The Federal Government is said to be worried about the over bloating of the agency in view of the dwindling revenue and what it considered as ‘a big fraud’ in the placement of Directors, General Managers, Deputy General Managers and those whose elevation was accelerated by a former Minister of Aviation.

The appointment and elevation of fresh graduates to the position of Assistant General Managers, and to grade levels 12 and 14 was said to be the height of impunity and has thus brought bad blood among the workers.

Consequently, the Ministry of Aviation had taken a look at the situation and felt there was the need to apply the same action to remedy the situation. A source in NAMA, who spoke to New Telegraph on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said already, there is panic in the agency as many who came in “through the back door and who know that they are not qualified for the position they currently hold” are to be asked to go.

The source expressed concern over the impending sack or demotion in the agency, saying the affected officials found themselves in a situation that was not their making.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has petitioned the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, over his inability to fully implement the Margaret Eyo-Ita committee’s recommendation on proper placing of workers in the agencies.

The union alleged that some of the names initially pencilled down for demotion or sack were deliberately removed by some powerful people in government, submitting only 29 names it claimed were wrongly engaged and placed in high positions above their qualifications since 2012 when over 3,000 people were brought into FAAN.

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Samson Folarin

A 12-year-old girl, Mmesoma Ani, has been admitted to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Surulere, after she was allegedly tortured by her aunt, Mrs. Ogechi Iruwane.

PUNCH Metro learnt that the mother of three allegedly used her bare hands to pinch off the victim’s chest, and inflicted injuries on her back.

Ani was also said to have been starved for two days for allegedly stealing a piece of meat.

Our correspondent learnt that a trader on Nurudeen Street, Orile Iganmu, Lagos State, where the incident happened, raised the alarm on Tuesday.

The case was said to have been reported to the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender.

Officials of the agency reportedly apprehended the suspect and subsequently handed her over to the police at the Orile Iganmu division.

The victim was afterwards taken to LUTH.
The trader, who discovered the incident, said Ani returned an empty bottle of soft drink to her when she saw her injuries.

She said, “I observed that she was not walking well. I drew closer to her and that was when I saw that her hands were also swollen. She said her aunt flogged her. She showed me her chest and I saw that the skin covering one of her maturing breasts had been pinched off. She removed her clothes and I was alarmed when I saw serious injuries on her back.”

The trader, whose name is protected for security reason, explained that she called the attention of passersby to the injuries.

“I wanted to take her back to the aunt to ask why she battered the girl so badly without taking her to a hospital, but her neighbours told me it was not the first time she would beat her. I decided to report the matter to the OPD,” she added.

A source at the OPD said the residents prevented the suspect from escaping when she went to find out why Ani had not returned home from the errand she sent her.

He said, “The girl claimed she was 12 years old, even though she looked younger. She also looked malnourished. There were different scars on her back. The irony is that the suspect has three children and they look well-fed.

“The girl claimed that she is the 11th of 12 children. She said the woman came to take her from her parents in Enugu State in December 2015. She said she was in primary three before she was brought to Lagos, but since her arrival, she had not been going to school. She said the woman accused her of stealing a piece of meat and for about two days, she was not given food to eat.”

The Director of the OPD, Mrs. Salami Olubukola, commended the trader that reported the case, urging residents of the state to always be on the watch for child abuse cases.

“The girl is now in our care. We will not relent in our efforts to stem the tide of child abuse in Lagos State,” she added.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the incident, adding that the matter would soon be charged to court.

Tony Okafor, Awka

A press briefing scheduled for Wednesday for Miss Anambra, Chidinma Okeke, to state her own version of a sex scandal rocking her could not hold.

The briefing scheduled for 10am at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Anambra State council, in Awka, ended abruptly following information that some gunmen would attack the secretariat.

Miss Chidinma Okeke, was the winner of the 2015 Most Beautiful Girl in Anambra pageant competition.

Her alleged lesbian video went virile on the social media recently .

She was reported to have vowed to expose the complicity of some top politicians and government officials in the sex scandal at the botched press conference.

But no sooner had the journalists arrived the venue of the conference than calls started coming, threatening that some gunmen were on their way to attack the venue.

The journalists had to flee the place for their lives.

“Life has no duplicate,” one of the journalists, quipped.

A message sent by the embattled Okeke using her Facebook account read in part, “The moment I made public this intention to speak with journalists, I have been under threats by my blackmailers and traducers.

“They are seriously threatening to shoot me at the press conference if I ever open my mouth to say the real truth about the ugly episode.

“Since I have no protection, and if I die now, the truth will be buried forever, it’s my intention to save not just myself but other girls and other upcoming pageant by letting the world know the truth and what we go through.”

Okeke said her traducers had continued to assemble all manner of expertise and professionals to edit the video and send them in batches.

She added that she would not be surprised if more videos were published subsequently.

Meanwhile, her counsel, Ikenna Obidiegwu, told our correspondent on the telephone that his client had to stay away from the press briefing after his attempt to get the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Sam Okaula, to provide security for the beauty queen failed.

“The commissioner said the notice was too short, and that he could not mobilise police security for the queen immediately,” he said.

Obidiegwu said his client’s blackmailers were powerful people in the state, adding that at the appropriate time their identities would be unveiled.

He denied reports that his client had been smuggled out of the country.

“I was with her just 30 minutes before speaking to you,” the lawyer maintained.

Two officials who would not want to be named, as they were not authorised to speak on the matter, said the refusal of the President to allow the lawmakers have their ways, especially on financial issues, was largely responsible for their disposition.

“The most important of their grievances is the issue of constituency projects which the Presidency has said may not be possible in this year’s (2016) budget due to the economic downturn and dwindling income to the nation’s treasury.

“The lawmakers did not help themselves when they decided to purchase the cars despite the outcry by Nigerians,” one of the officials said.

Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose has debunked the claim by former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, that he gave him (Fayose) part of the money he got from ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Fayose said the claim by Obanikoro, who is currently in EFCC custody, that he collected some money from him, was a clear indication that he was drowning and looking for someone to go down with him.

Speaking with Sun, Fayose said despite the myraids of allegations leveled against him, he would come out pure.

He compared his current situation to the Biblical Jesus, who despite many trials, came out victorious.

He said, “I wouldn’t want to join issues with EFCC or Obanikoro. But I remembered very well that Obanikoro was firing very serious salvos at the EFCC before now.

“I remembered all his statements in the press, but this dramatic return, he did not stop at the airport and there was a clear entrance straight to the EFCC custody; it simply shows that there is a hand of Saul in the voice of Jacob.

“I’m used to all these conspiracies and the fact remains that in all these, Jesus is Lord, in all these, victory is sure, in all these, I’ve not lost any battle and I’ll not lose any. Let me believe that Obanikoro did not say all these because whatever you say, you would have to prove it in court.

“It is not enough to just say it. If he’s saying all these to get out of trouble, it is just a drama of the moment. I know he is looking for ways out of the quagmire as his house was seized, his bank accounts were frozen and all that. May be, my brother and friend, Obanikoro is looking for easy way out so they have to heap everything on Fayose.

“I’m used to all these. In the meantime, I am busy as governor of Ekiti delivering good governance to my people. What they wanted during their conspiracy at my first tenure was to stop me politically forever.
They didn’t want me to rise politically again; that was what all the first poultry allegation with EFCC in 2006 is all about but I won.
“Today, I can adjudge what would happen tomorrow by the victory of yesterday. So, their fear is my rising profile: their fear is – where is this Fayose going?

“Don’t you forget that in the Bible, the three wise men who came to greet Jesus Christ and who saw tomorrow about Jesus Christ just as the then King Herod too, saw tomorrow about Jesus Christ and he told the wise men to come back to him and reveal where Jesus was so that he could go and kill him.

“But the wise men didn’t go back that way. So, they saw my tomorrow and knew that I was rising. I’m going to be among those people that would take over from them. I have a future, I have greatness ahead of me and no greatness comes without a battle and struggle.

“So, they should keep their gun powder dry, behave like a responsible organization whose strength is in their coded investigation. They should stop messing themselves up. You see, nobody knows what would be the situation in two years time, but when we get to the bride, we would cross it.

“Again, if Obanikoro says he gave me such huge money, where did he get it from? Why will he take such huge cash like that? Why will an honourable federal minister of the country be saying that he took cash like this and gave to me?

“You can now see how EFCC operates, but we will talk about that when we get to court. They are only looking for ways for nexus, to link me at all cost, to destroy me at all cost.

‘It is just like in the Bible when they asked the people should we replace the thief with Jesus for the punishment but the people said no, it is Jesus we want.

“So, it’s Fayose that is all they want in all these drama, I hope that by now, they would have released all Obanikoro’s confiscated assets and property.”

A 32 year-old man has been arrested by the Kaduna State Police Command, for allegedly raping a 14-year-old to coma.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Aliyu Usman, who made this disclosure to newsmen on Wednesday said the suspect, Hamza Abdullahi, who resides in Rigasa, Igabi Local Government Area of the state reportedly lured Faiza Salisu (14), to his room which is opposite the family house of the said victim where he had carnal knowledge of her.

It was gathered that the suspect before the incident took some sex enhancement drugs and in the process kept having sex with the victim until she collapsed.

When he sensed that the teenager was unconscious, the suspect quickly called a Tricycle driver to help in taking the victim to a bush closer to the house where he intended to dump her.

Luck, however, ran out on him when a relation of the victim saw her being carried into the tricycle.

She raised alarm which attracted passers-by. After seeing the condition of the victim, they descended on Hamza Abdullahi. The suspect was saved by men from Rigasa Police Divisional office, who took him away.

Speaking to the media at the police command, the suspect agreed to have had carnal knowledge of Faiza Salisu (victim), but said it was with her consent because he promised to reward her financially.

Hamza, who refuted the allegation that he took some sex enhancement drugs, said he only took ‘man power’ sold by some women around the area.

The PPRO said investigation was still on, adding that the suspect would be charged to court after investigation.

By Christopher OJI

One of the two married woman declared wanted by the Lagos state Police command over alleged criminal activities, including lesbianism, has been arrested in Port Harcourt,Rivers state.

The women, have been on the run since their alleged criminal activities were reported to the Police.

A police Source said the suspects were committing the dastardly act in one Alhaji Osilo’s house each time he was away.

Osilo’s neighbours, who felt the suspects would be bad influence to others ,reported the abominable act to osilo who in turn reported the matter to the police.

It was gathered that Alhaji Osilo also reported one of the ladies ogunwale Abiola Idowu, to her husband who was unable to caution her.

A police source said “it is true, the illicit act of lesbianism against ogunwale Abiola and her mate Monisola Adeko was reported to us and we have commenced Investigation in the alleged act of lesbianism by the two women. We have identified the women and we will soon apprehend them. It was Abiola partners’ husband, osilo that reported the matter to us. You know that the act is against the law of our land, we must enforce the law.”

It was gathered that Abiola and her partner have been on the run since their evil act was uncovered.

Luck however ran out of Monisola who was apprehended at the weekend in Port Harcourt where she had been hiding.

The police said the suspect, has made useful confession ,but denied knowledge of the whereabouts of her accomplice as she claimed they lost contact. The police have confirmed that her alleged accomplice, Abiola had since relocated to either North America or Europe.

Mr Frank who spoke for the Kelani family said: “The kelani family of Abeokuta frowned at our son,Abiodun for marrying a woman who has made the family a laughing stock”.

Monisola’s husband Alhaji osilo spoke to Daily Sun” Yes, my neighbours opened the can of warm that Abiola has been doing the ungodly act with my wife in my house anytime I was away. I could not stomach such evil that was why I reported the matter to the police,”

When contacted, Abiola’s husband Mr Abiodun Kelani said” I don’t know what the police are saying. My wife is not in the country at the moment .Let the police do their job and let me be.”

The most damning document shows that the judge, who once freed former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode on a technicality over corruption charges

Usman Bugaje, an ambassadorial nominee from Kastina state, has turned down his appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bugaje is the second nominee to reject the offer, after Pauline Tallen, former deputy governor of Plateau state, turned it down as well.

While Tallen announced her decision to decline the appointment in public, Bugaje prevailed on by top government officials not to announce his rejection of the offer in the media.

Tallen had rejected her nomination on the grounds that there was no “proper consultation”. She had also explained that her decision was done in fairness to other parts of the state.

Speaking to state house correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday, Simon Lalong, Plateau state governor, commended Tallen for her decision.

“Pauline is an astute politician from my state, and part of the issue we also raised was on some of the appointments that were made,” he said.

“So, all the states that had complaints are going to put it in writing and the president promised he is going to look into it.”

Regarding Tallen’s decision to reject the appointment, Lalong said: “Well, it is not only about her husband; I think is the dimension of plateau politics because I had already made complaints to Mr President that appointments should not be concentrated in one zone.

“And so, all these appointments came again from one zone, in that particular zone. So the complaints that are coming from our state is not about her own personal interest; it is the fact that two ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone.

“That is my zone. We had complained that the next appointment should go to the other zone, the central and the northern zone. And so when that appointment came, the kind of uproar that followed also necessitated an intervention.

“And I think as a matured politician she stepped down and sacrificed that for the people of Plateau. We are still working on a replacement for that. It is not a big issue but at times a little consultation would have solved that problem because these are issues in the interest of the state.

“You can’t have two appointments, very key appointments at that, coming from a particular zone that is already overloaded with appointments. All the federal appointments are from the southern zone, so it would not be fair. That is why we are approaching Mr. President to consider fairness and appoint people from those areas that do not have representation.”

The source said, “We are making progress in our investigations. We were able to trace 24 vehicles to the former IG and we have recovered 19 already. He has yet to release the remaining five, but we won’t let up until we recover all the vehicles. We have pictures of the vehicles and they have been documented, so he can’t deny it, the recovery is a fact.”

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mohammad Abdullahi, on Saturday, alleged that the previous Peoples Democratic Party-led administration in the state spent N2.1billion on sweets, juice and food, annually.

Mr. Abdullahi made this known in Kaduna at a round table discussion on the Kaduna State 2017 budget proposal, organised by the Kaduna State chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ.

The commissioner also revealed that N500 million was spent, annually, on purchase of newspapers by the PDP administration.

He, however, stated that the All Progressives Congress-led administration had since decided to cut down on such expenses by channelling the funds to infrastructural development.

He noted that the adoption of the treasury single account and the zero base budget had assisted the state government in generating N38 billion to an open balance of 2016 budget.

“We are borrowing the larger percentage to fund the 2017 budget but it is to be channelled to infrastructural development,” he said.

Mr. Abdulahi called on the media to help in educating the members of public on the breakdown of the 2017 budget so as to ensure its successful implementation.

Earlier, Zhiroh Jatau, Acting chairman of the NUJ in the state, said the discussion had provided an opportunity for members of the press and public to be better informed on what the administration was providing for the overall development of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Governor Nasir El-Rufai on October 12 sent a budget proposal of N215.9 billion for the 2017 financial year.

lalasticlala

From GEORGE ONYEJIUWA, OWERRI

The leadership crisis rocking the Bilie Human Rights Initiatives came to fore on October 20, 2016 at the resumed hearing of the suit filed against the Nigeria Federation on behalf of the Supreme Elders Council of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, at the Federal High Court, Owerri Division, in the Imo State capital, when Mr. Innocent Amadi, an engineer and Mr. Michael George Umorem, both claimed to be the national president and interim national president respectively of the organisation to the amusement of the presiding Judge.

But that was just the beginning of the drama because as soon as the case was called by the court clerk, two lawyers, Mbakwe Obi and Ohaeto Uwazie said they were holding briefs for the organisation.
This prompted the presiding Judge, Louis Alagba to ask the former counsel to the plaintiff, Uwazie if he was not aware that his client had disengaged him from the matter, and if so, why did he still announce his appearance in a case that his services were no longer needed, if not for mischief.

But Uwazie insisted that he remained the sole counsel in the matter as he was still holding the brief of Emeka Asiri Emeka, who is the legal adviser and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bilie Human Rights Initiatives, stressing that to the best of his knowledge he had not been disengaged. Even when he was shown the notice of his disengagement from the case, he still claimed that it was never served on him.

When the judge ordered that he be served afresh in the court, the former counsel again, argued that the proper person to be served should be Emeka Asiri who he said lives in London, and the Judge insisted that since he holds the brief of Emeka Asiri that he should transmit the service to him.
He further told the court that Amadi who he referred as the former national president of the organisation did not have the locus standi to replace him as the counsel as his tenure as the president of the organisation had long expired. He instantly requested the judge to adjourn the case to enable them to sort out what he called a mix-up.

Justice Alagba who was not amused by the argument of Uwazie said that the plaintiff reserved the right to determine who should represent him in any matter and therefore, should not insist, but he should rather ask to be paid his legal fees.

Mbakwe Obi, the new counsel informed the court that his learned colleague who had been handling the matter before his disengagement had refused to hand over to him the case file and asked for an adjournment to enable him apply to the registrar of the court for the documents, a request, which was granted by the Judge, who then adjourned the matter to November 23, 2016.

The crisis in the Bilie Human Rights Initiatives erupted in June 2016, when Asiri, chairman of the Board of Trustees removed Amadi as the national president of the organisation and replaced him with Elder Michael George Umorem as the interim national president of the organisation pending when another election would be conducted to elect a new leader.

A copy of the letter written to Amadi by the Board of Trustees, dated October 13, 2016, “Titled Notice of Expiration of Your Tenure And Handover of the Leadership of Bilie Human Rights Initiatives to Elder Michael George Umorem,” reads in part: “We write in our capacity as the Incorporated Trustees of the Bilie Human Rights Initiatives exercising the powers of management of the organisation under the laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

“You were elected as the first EXCO of the organisation for a term of five years in office as the president and EXCO Members of this organisation which commenced operation on June 7, 2011 upon its incorporation, which means that your tenure expired after five years on 7 June, 2016. The Incorporated Trustees of this organisation have appreciated the efforts of the first EXCO members who pioneered the organisation from its birth in 2011 to 2016. Now we have decided to re-organise Bilie Human Rights Initiatives in Nigeria for more works ahead.”

The letter further stated, “Take note that we have dissolved the first EXCO by reason of the expiration of its tenure and its insubordination. We have appointed Elder Michael George Umorem from Akwa Ibom state as the interim President of Bilie Human Rights Initiatives with interim Exco till further notice. We have observed that the new Supreme Council of Elders as advertised in The Sun newspapers excluded the elders from Akwa Ibom State contrary to our vision that the three regions of Biafra land must be represented. We hope that the Supreme Council of Elders will treat the issue of the exclusion of Akwa Ibom urgently.”

However, Amadi dismissed his removal as infantile fantasy, and accused Asiri of trying to sabotage the organization by stoking crisis. He said that the legal adviser of the organisation had been blackmailing him in order to tarnish his image.

His words: “I have led this organisation since 2011, which I have been funding with my own resources and I have earlier made it clear that the organisation was not established for money making like other pro-Biafra organisations. But that is exactly what Asiri wants to do, and now he wants to change the structure to suit him. That is why he took my boy who I pay money to do work for me to replace me as the president of Bilie Human Rights Initiatives without any due process and no AGM of the organisation was summoned. Can you imagine that he has already failed in his bid to sabotage our effort.”

Amadi disclosed that they had decided to change their lawyer, Asiri, who lives in London and has been a thorn in the flesh of the organization by his conduct. Asiri even wrote a petition against the former judge who was initially assigned the matter, that he was the one who had been stalling the case from being heard earlier.

“We cannot continue in this manner and we have to change Emeka Asiri who was our legal adviser because he was the one who had been stalling the case because of the long adjournments he had always sought to suit his purpose otherwise the case would have been dispensed with long ago. So, we decided to engage a lawyer here in Nigeria and that is what we did today at the court by bringing a formal notice before the judge that we have changed our lawyer whose service has not been satisfactory,” Amadi said.

Meanwhile, Elder Umorem insisted that by the power of the letter of the Board of Trustees of the Bilie Human Rights Initiatives that he would continue to function as the interim national president of the organization, adding that Asiri had been informed of the latest development.

lalasticlala

Mrs. Aisha Buhari bucked tradition by openly criticizing the political appointments in her husband’s government. There is no precedent for this in Nigeria’s entire history.

In fact, I know of no parallel in the world for a First Lady (or Wife of the President) to openly disagree with her husband through a foreign media outlet.

This can only mean that although Aisha is formally married to President Buhari, she is actually isolated from him. This is consistent with what I’ve heard from inside sources about the relationship between the first couple. Buhari is held hostage by an evil, sneaky, corrupt,vulturous, and conniving cabal that ensures that his wife doesn’t see him even in the “kitchen,” the “living room,” or“the other room.”

the BBC interview was Aisha's vigorous ventilation of pent-up anguish against a cold, calculating, and corrupt cabal that has made Buhari a stranger to his own wife.

A few months ago, a close Buhari aide who was unnerved by my all-out,no-holds-barred criticism of this government (which was inspired by my realization that this government is an elaborate anti-people fraud) called to assure me that Buhari hadn’t abandoned the pro-poor posture that endeared him to many of us. He said Buhari personally disagreed with the recent petrol price hike, the “floating” of the naira, the removal of subsides on fertilizer, and other anti-people policies that have become the signature of this administration. He called my attention to the fact that the president always travels out of the country each time this atrociously pigheaded decisions are announced.

A few days after our conversation, as if to confirm what the presidential source told me privately, Buhari publicly disagreed with the devaluation of the naira. “How much benefit can we derive from this ruthless devaluation of the naira?”he told business leaders who paid him a visit in the Presidential Villa on June 27, 2016.“I’m not an economist neither a businessman - I fail to appreciate what is the economic explanation.”

As I told my informant, this is terribly worrying. If Buhari is personally uncomfortable with the decisions that have come to define his own administration, it clearly indicates that he isn’t in control. It means he is a puppet controlled by inept, no-good puppeteers.

But like most Buhari aides, my informant believes Buhari is metaphysically held captive by a potent, disabling evil spell that causes him to be easily susceptible to the wiles and devious manipulations of a vicious cabal in Aso Rock. He said efforts are being made to exorcise this spell. But that’s superstitious nonsense.

Buhari is simply an infirm leader who cherishes and rewards loyalty even at the expense of truth, justice, fair play- and the nation. Yet, scores of his supporters go into overdrive to defend the policies of his government because they believe in him and imagine that all the policies churned out by this government have his imprimature.Many of them would even justify and defend their own murder by Buhari if they have the chance to reincarnate to tell the story.

This is the context that instigated Aisha Buhari’s unusual media outburst. When you are denied access to your husband, when your husband is held prisoner by a malevolent, shadowy, and predatory cabal,you can’t help but lash out through the most potent means available to you.

So before you talk of the unprecedented of Aisha’s critique of her husband’s government, also remember the unprecedented of her husband’s critique of his own government, which clearly indicates his alienation from his own government.

But let’s not be deceived into thinking that Mrs.Buhari is worried about the fate of everyday Nigerians whom her husband’s puppet government is killing piecemeal. She is fighting a personal battle of self-preservation. She is piqued that she is excluded from partaking in the rampant and unrestrained nepotism of this government.

As I pointed out in a recent viral Facebook status update, most disillusioned Buhari supporters don’t care whether the president’s appointees are personally known to him or his wife-or whether or not they campaigned or voted for him. They are worried, instead, that many, perhaps most, of the president’s appointees are corrupt and incompetent, but are shielded from any consequences for their corruption and incompetence because of their loyalty to the president.

Let’s start from the president’s first major appointments: Secretary to the Government of the Federation Lawal David Babachir is nicknamed “Cash and Carry” in government circles for a reason. Here is a man who once publicly bragged about receiving monetary gifts from the Ebonyi State governor. He has also been implicated in the N270 million “grass-cutting” contract scandal for internally displaced Boko Haram victims.

The Chief of Staff to the President has been accused of accepting a half-billion-naira bribe from MTN to reduce the telecom company’s NCC fine from N1.04 trillion to N330 billion, among other allegations of sordid, avaricious sleaze against him. And the man is incompetent and lazy, to boot. It’s the same story all around members of the president’s “kitchen cabinet.”

[b]It took Buhari 6 months to appoint his ministers who have turned out to be the most underwhelming cast of characters to ever be in the Federal Executive Council. Among them is a minister of budget who doesn’t know Nigeria’s debt profile; a minister of agriculture (who, tellingly, is a former PDP chairman) who thinks the cost of rice is high because Nigerians consume too much rice; a minister of science and technology whose technological vision for the country is to start local pencil production in two years; a compulsively lying and comically foul-mouthed minister of information who says dressing and undressing masquerades is a strategy of job creation; a minister of youth and sports who is so incredibly clueless he makes you want to cry; a backward, prehistoric minister of communication who wants to tax Nigerians for calls they make and texts they send; a minister of Niger Delta Affairs who was indicted for fraud by a government commission in the 1990s but still keeps his job even in the wake of this revelation; a minister of finance who hides her incompetence behind a Cockney accent.[/b]

The list goes on.
Add that to the revelations of a series of secretive, illegal employment of the children and relatives of high-ranking political elites in this government, including Buhari’s, while millions of brilliant, hardworking but underprivileged people vegetate in misery amid a biting recession, and you know that Nigeria is wildly adrift. Neither the president nor his ministers have a clue. And they don’t care.

If this trend continues, by the end of 2019, Buhari would be so unpopular that he would be chased out of Aso Rock with rocks by millions of his own erstwhile supporters. Aisha Buhari obviously doesn’t want this terrible fate to befall her husband. I don’t, too.

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