₦airaland Forum

Apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has appealed to Northern leaders and former militant leader, Asari Dokubo to forgive pro-Biafra agitator, Nnamdi Kanu and work for his release.

Ohanaeze made the appeal in reaction to Kanu’s pronouncement that he will never beg the Federal Government and President Bola Tinubu for his release.

Kanu also noted that it would be an insult to the loving memories of Pa Mbazulike Amaechi who died in 2022 at the age of 91 for him to beg for his release.

Recall that a delegation of Igbo elders had solicited the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, after the Appeal Court ordered his release.

However, Ohanaeze believes that there are ongoing efforts by Northerners and Dokubo to pressure the Federal Government not to accept the request for Kanu’s release.

A statement by Ohanaeze’s factional Secretary-General, Okechukwu Isiguzoro said Kanu’s pronouncement was in order and that people should stop begging for his release.

Isiguzoro maintained that the Appeal Court’s pronouncement over Kanu release remains sacrosanct and that the Supreme Court should fix a date for the hearing of the appeal filed by the government against Kanu’s release.

The organization also called on the Federal Government to obey the rule of law and release Kanu unconditionally, as he has been in detention for over the years without adherence to court orders.

The statement reads: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, is believed to have played a significant role in the earlier release of Nnamdi Kanu in 2017, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

“The organization is said to have sent a delegation to the North and prominent Nigerians to pacify them and seek their support for Kanu’s release.

“This time around, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is likely to adopt a similar strategy, focusing on underground networking with critical stakeholders and appealing to those who were aggrieved by Kanu’s broadcasts in the past.

“The organization may also seek the assistance of Igbo billionaire business moguls and the leadership of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, who played a significant role in the previous release of Kanu in 2017.

“However, the current situation is more challenging due to the lack of diplomatic underground work and the need to pacify some friends of the government, especially some Northern leadership and groups and Asari Dokubo, a former Niger Delta militant.

“The violent sit-at-home protests have also not brought any desired outcome, leading Igbos to change tactics in their efforts to secure Kanu’s release.”

Two young men from Lagos who were in Ogun State for a programme at a Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Onikoko have been reported to have drowned while swimming in a river at Itori.

The tragedy reportedly happened on Monday.

Ogun State Police Command Public Relations Officer in Ogun, Omolola Odutola, disclosed that a member of the church, Adebayo Adeosun, had reported at the station at about 6:30 pm, “that some boys numbering seven who came from Lagos on the 27th of August for his church inauguration, left the church premises to swim, and got drowned in the process.”

According to Odutola, the two victims were Femi Akinola, 32, of Odo Eran, Itire, and Tunde Falade, 35, of Kola Alagbado, both in Lagos.

Their bodies were recovered from the tides and rushed to the health centre in Itori, Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, “where they were unfortunately confirmed dead by a medical doctor on duty.”

The Divisional Police Officer, CSP Olayemi Jacob, had detailed his team to visit the scene upon receipt of the report and ascertained that there were no signs of violence or foul play suspected.

“Their remains have since been evacuated to Ifo General Hospital for autopsy reports and later deposited in the same mortuary,” she explained.

A Police woman who rejected a bribe offered to her by a transporter for stolen goods has been rewarded.

The woman, Inspector Charity Oyor who was on duty in Onitsha saw a vehicle ladened with cables, felt suspicious and decided to flag it down but when she was offered a bribe, she rejected it and invited operatives who later found out the goods were stolen.

A press release by the state police command’s spokesperson, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga said the police woman got N250,000 as reward from the Police commissioner for a diligent job.

Ikenga wrote: “The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, CP Aderemi Adeoye has awarded a cash sum of Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira N250,000 to a Police woman serving in Main Market Division, Onitsha.

“The Policewoman, Inspector Charity Oyor who was on traffic duty in the market on Wednesday, 23rd August, 2023, saw a shuttle bus carrying six heavy bundles of stripped armoured cable suspected to have been stolen driving past.

“She stopped the driver and inquired about the consignment from the purported owner who, rather than explain how he came to be in possession of the cable, offered her a bribe which she rejected.

“The Police Inspector put a call across to her DPO Superintendent Joy Chidinma Ikpeama who led Police Personnel to the scene and arrested the suspect. The cable was impounded and taken to the Station for investigation.

“At the station the suspect again offered a sum of N500,000 to be allowed to go. This was rejected by the officers. The DPO promptly briefed the Commissioner of Police on the arrest and recovery.”

Ikenga said the Commissioner of Police has ordered State CID Awka to take over the case for investigation with a view to unravelling where the used cables came from.

At the presentation of the cash award in the commissioner’s office on Friday Adeoye commended the DPO for providing good leadership and Inspector Charity Oyor for her uprightness.

He urged all Personnel in the Command to always uphold ethics of the profession by refusing to be compromised in the discharge of their duties.

The DPO thanked the Commissioner of Police for leading by personal example and said her personnel were inspired by his leadership.

An indigene and resident of Gidan Damo village, Musa Mohammed has revealed that gunmen who unleashed terror on the community on Wednesday night, abducted four women and four children, killing four other persons and injuring scores of villagers.

Mohammed, in a phone interview with newsmen said everyone tried to escape to safety not knowing the fate of the next person but it was eventually discovered that seven persons were shot and four died on the spot.

“The villagers were running without any direction to the bush for the safety of their lives and so nobody cared to wait and monitor what happened”, he added.

Mohammed said the bandits were moving from house to house to pick out their victims and it was later found that four women and their four children were matched into the forest.

“We just finished Magrib prayers after seven o’clock on Wednesday night when we heard several gunshots as the terrorists invaded the community.

All efforts to get the comments of the State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, ASP Yazeed Abdulahi proved unsuccessful as he was not picking his calls.

President Bola Tinubu is expected to open the 63rd Annual General Conference of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja this weekend.

The decision to declare the event open followed an invitation extended to the President by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), led by Barrister Yakubu Maikyau, SAN.

Playing host to the delegation at the Presidential Villa on Friday, Tinubu pledged that his administration would conclude a thorough review of the remuneration templates of judicial officers in the country.

According to the President, the battle against corruption necessitates a comprehensive review of the salaries and allowances of judicial officers, an issue that is well known to him given his landmark success in reforming justice administration in Lagos State.

“We must deal with the review of remuneration if we truly want to fight corruption in the Judiciary. We will look at the cost as well as the consequences,” he said in response to a request by the NBA president.

President Tinubu equally acknowledged the importance of addressing the current vacancies within the Supreme Court, affirming that these vacancies represent obligations that must be fulfilled based on recommendations put forth by the National Judicial Council (NJC).

“Majority of them are on holiday now, and when they return, we will take a look at what they have and fill the vacancies. It’s a fulfilment of an obligation,” he said.

President Tinubu went on to acknowledge his privilege of having numerous lawyers as close aides, including the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, the State Chief of Protocol, Victor Adeleke, and his Principal Private Secretary, Prince Damilotun Aderemi.

In a brief remark, the NBA President lauded the President for appointing very distinguished members of the bar into his cabinet, including Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

The All Progressives Congress has closed its case at the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja.

The matter has been slated for adoption of final written address, in a date that will be communicated to the parties.

The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, Patrick Tonye-Cole, is challenging the victory of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

The PDP had protested and blocked all sections of the Port Harcourt-Aba express road leading to the INEC office in April.

They barricaded the entrance to the Rivers State head office of INEC, for almost two weeks, to prevent the APC governorship candidate from accessing the INEC office.

Tonye-Cole was to collect the Certified True Copy of the results that declared Governor Fubara the winner of the election on March 18, 2023.

The PDP had claimed that the reason for their protest, was to stop the APC from an alleged plot to replace the CTC of the election result with a fake.

They also demanded that INEC does not allow just one political party to inspect electoral materials, but that inspection should be done jointly by all parties.

The protest took place days after operatives of the Rivers State Police Command arrested some lawyers handling the election case for Tonye-Cole of the APC, alongside their materials, but were later released.

The APC, however, got hold of the documents they needed to file their case, miraculously beating the deadline for case filing of election matters.

A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory FCT on Wednesday struck out two separate fundamental rights enforcement suits instituted against the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and the Department of State Services, DSS, by two siblings of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele.

The two brothers, George Emefiele and Okanta Emefiele, had sued the two respondents seeking for order of the Court to enforce their fundamental rights to freedom of movement among others.

They had separately approached the court, seeking, among other reliefs, its order of perpetual injunction restraining the secret police from inviting, intimidating, harassing, and arresting or detaining them in relation “to matters or body of matters which relates to the ongoing investigation of Mr. Godwin Emefiele and/or matters outside the constitutional and statutory mandate of the 1st respondent (DSS)”.

The applicants, in the two separate matters, had joined the DSS and AGF as respondents.

At the resumed hearing of the cases on Wednesday, counsel for the applicants, Grace Ehusani, informed the court that the applicants separately filed notice of discontinuance of the case, though she did not give any reasons for the application.

While not apposing the application, counsel for the DSS, Ibrahim Awo, urged the court to dismiss the case, instead of striking it out as requested by the applicants’ counsel.

He then asked for a substantial cost of N2 million against the applicants in favour of the respondents.

Counsel for the AGF, Maimuma Lami-Sheru aligned herself with the submission of the DSS counsel and asked for a N2 million cost.

In his bench ruling, Justice Emmanuel Okpe, a vacation judge, struck out the cases and ordered that no cost should be paid by the applicants.

23 Suspected Internet Fraudsters Nabbed in Makurdi

Operatives of the Makurdi Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Sunday, August 20, 2023 arrested 23 suspected internet fraudsters in a sting operation in Makurdi, Benue State.

The suspects are: David Uvaa, Patrick Adakole, Cyprian Aloo, Michael Anaambe, Okti Clinton, Ibi Raphael, Anaambe George, Msaasha John, Oche Edache, Anaker Terpase, Tanko Japhet and Ayalgo Lorfa.

Others include Success Terzungwe, Suursuter Isaiah, Lawani Peter, Paul Adewa, Jacob Paul, Ibi Shedrack, Iorkosu Michael, Shiedu Leonard, Terseer Mnenge, Ikyorna Raphael and Igba Ngutor.

Items recovered from them include different mobile phones and one Toyota Corolla car. The suspects have made useful statements and will be charged to court as soon as the investigation is concluded.

zieraw2005:
God saved me from these guys that same day at 6:50PM.

They drop white bus and double crossed me, I quickly stopped and told my wife these are kidnappers.


I used reverse a little before seeing commercial hiace bus and trailer coming with speed. I had to queue in between them and run away.


Here is my observation:

I used that road on a working day and there were too many police checkpoints, in fact you can’t drive 2 minutes without a checkpoint and I was angry that checkpoints were too much as I complained to some of the officers.

Now on a Sunday as I was heading to Enugu, I noticed I never saw any police checkpoints apart from army and maybe 2 police checkpoints after okigwe roundabout.

Avoid traveling on Sunday through that road guys.

This is my testimony guys. And to teach other road users what’s up on that road.

Thank you Jesus for safety.

francis5051:
bro i don’t know how far you know with this news actually am from imo state my brother was kidnapped last week here in imo states with a black Lexus 350 as said in the news and till now we haven’t seen a call from the kidnappers yet so I don’t know if is my bro the news is talking about

The Police Command in Enugu State has neutralised two suspected kidnappers and rescued one male kidnap victim (name withheld) at the outskirts of Enugu metropolis.

The Command also recovered the victim’s black-coloured Lexus 350 Jeep alongside one locally made revolver gun loaded with four cartridges and another locally fabricated pistol belonging to the criminal elements.

This is contained in a statement issued by the Command’s Spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, on Tuesday in Enugu.

Ndukwe said that police operatives, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations, Mr Olasoji Akinbayo, carried out the successful operation on Aug. 20 at about 8:00 pm at Centenary Layout, along Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway.

He said that the police operatives were drawn from the NPF Special Forces, Awkunanaw Police Division and tactical teams of the command.

“Following the policing thrust and renewed crime fighting impetus of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Mr Kanayo Uzuegbu, a combined team of police operatives rescued a male kidnap victim after a gun fight with the hoodlums.

“One of the miscreants, simply identified as ‘Baron’, was neutralised on the spot in the ensuing shootout, while others escaped with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.

“However, further manhunt for the fleeing members of the gang led to the discovery and recovery of the lifeless body of the second neutralised hoodlum.

“The second neutralised hoodlum was simply identified as Chukwunonso, a.k.a. ‘Nolly’, in the morning hours of Aug. 21 in a forest at the location of the gun duel,” he said.

Ndukwe said that the two neutralised criminals had been on the watch-list of the command.

According to him, the operational success was due to the swift response to a distress call on the kidnap of the victim along Agbani Road, Enugu, in the night.

The police spokesman commended the operatives for quickly adapting to his newly introduced crime-fighting strategies.

He said that the commissioner had previously tasked police officers and other personnel of the command to sustain the tempo.

“There will be no breathing space for unrepentant criminals in the State, under his (Uzuegbu) watch as the Commissioner of Police,” he added.