The charges follow an investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime team.
A] Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55 (10.9.66) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
“[B] Ike Ekweremadu, 60 (12.05.62) of Nigeria is charged with conspiracy to arrange/facilitate travel of another person with a view to exploitation, namely organ harvesting.
They have both been remanded in custody and will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court later today.
The investigation was launched after detectives were alerted to potential offences under modern slavery legislation in May 2022.
“A child has been safeguarded and we are working closely with partners on continued support.
“As criminal proceedings are now under way we will not be providing further details.”
It was a harvest of tears at Adoration Ministry Enugu, Nigeria on Wednesday, as their Spiritual Director, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka addressed the Adorers.
Mbaka according to a video posted on their official Facebook page arrived the Adoration Ministry Enugu ground at Emene to address the mammoth crowd that has been gathering at the place since it was shutdown by the Enugu Diocese Bishop, Callistus Onaga.
The atmosphere became emotional when Mbaka told the his Adoration members that the activities remained suspended in obedience to the directive of the Bishop.
According to Mbaka: “I’m a priest of the Catholic Church and the Bishop is my father, I swore an oath to obey him and his successors. I can not do otherwise.”
Mbaka appealed to the sobbing members to henceforth, stop castigating the Bishop or Enugu Catholic Church but to pray and bless them. He also urged them to continue praying for Peter Obi because he’s one of them, their brother and friend.
“I have come to bless you and to dismiss you, I don’t want you to go to the main road. I don’t want you to be pugnacious or to be cantankerous. I don’t want the adorers to be violent. I don’t want Adoration people to be classified as bandits for we’re not bandits. We’re obedient children of God, we love the mother church and the mother Church loves us so much.
“We appreciate our Bishop and henceforth, I want to order everybody here, to stop Insulting the Bishop. We can’t forget all his goodness to us.” “…this is a time we show our Bishop love, speak good of him, don’t write anything negative of him. To insult the Bishop is to insult me directly.”
The Adoration members couldn’t control their tears when Mbaka said “I will never come out here for Mass until the Bishop approves it.” They asked him why? He replied “don’t ask me why, because I’m a Catholic priest, I have to obey.
They asked their spiritual Director to give them a date that they will resume their activities and Mbaka answered “I’m not the Bishop to give date, we are pleading and that’s why you have to pray that he gives us date. I have come to disperse you to go in peace, at least you have seen me.”
The Cries of “Bishop have mercy on us and give us a date (to reopen adoration ministry)! We can’t do without adoration oh! Tamper justice with mercy! Bishop we’re pleading!” took over the entire adoration ground as Mbaka tries to make his way out.
The headless body of Hon. Nelson Emeka Achukwu, popularly known as Ogbatuluenyi has been discovered by his relatives less than two weeks after he was kidnapped by gunmen.
Achukwu a former member of Anambra State House of Assembly despite being physically challenged was kidnapped from his home in Ukpor, Nnewi South LGA, Anambra State.
This is the second of such gruesome murder after the lawmaker representing Aguata North; Governor Soludo’s constituency, at the state house Of Assembly, Okechukwu Okoye was beheaded by his abductors in May,2022.
Our Reporter gathered that the late Anambra politician and businessman was kidnapped on 9th of June, 2022.
His decapitated body was later found at the bank of Ulasi river and was quickly buried by the family on Tuesday, 21st June, 2022, because his body has started decomposing. A family source told our correspondent that they couldn’t believe he would be killed after they paid the 15 million naira ransom requested by his abductors.
Hon. Bar. Nelson Emeka Achukwu was popular during the administration of Dr. Chris Ngige.
The gunmen reportedly abducted and released him a few months ago. Hon. Emeka Achukwu told members of his family that the gunmen accused him of providing information to the military but got released when they found out the allegations levelled against him were false.
The reason for his second kidnap and murder is still unknown.
He was the owner of Nelly Oil & Gas filling station situated along Onuselogu road, Utuh, Anambra state.
When contacted, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, the spokesman of Anambra State Police confirmed the sad news and assured that the command is doing everything within its power to arrest the perpetrators of the crime.
“The victim was abducted at about 10:15Pm in his house on 9th of June and efforts were been made to rescue him before this unfortunate development. His body was found between the boundary of Uke and Ukpor.
“We are still not relenting on our investigation as we will ensure that the culprits will face the full wrath of the law,” Ikenga told our correspondent.
The Director General of Good Governance Ministry(GGM) ,a political Ministry, has proposed two names as Running Mates to Labour Party Presidential Candidate- Mr Peter Obi. The DG said that the two names have records of proven integrity and grassroots followers in total deviation from career politicians. They are ;
1. PROF. ATTAHIRU JEGA
2. Dr. Tanko Yinusa
Chukwuemeka gives their detail profiles in full ”PROF. ATTAHIRU JEGA
He is one of the top politicians in Nigeria and has held key position in the country.
Attahiru Jega Biography
Attahiru Muhammadu Jega born January 11, 1957, is a Nigerian academic and former Vice-Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano.
Jega is hails from Jega, Kebbi State where he was born and raised under the influence of his disciples parents.
He was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman in 2010 under the then President Goodluck Jonathan.
Early Life and Education
Attahiru Jega was born in his hometown Jega, Kebbi State where he grew up with his parents and siblings.
He had his primary education at Sabon Gari Town Primary School, Jega from 1963 to 1969, before he proceeded to Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi.
In a bid to further his education, Jega got admitted into Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria’s Bayero University College, Kano in 1974, and graduated in 1979 with a BSc degree in Political Science.
He earned a PhD in Political Sciences from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois to add to his portfolio.
He previously worked as a teaching assistant at Bayero University, before he went for his PhD and later returned to the Political Science Department in Bayero University in 1984 as a lecturer.
He was nominated by then Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan as the new Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After Senate confirmation, he replaced Professor Maurice Iwu, who vacated the post on 28 April 2010.
Jega set a new record as the only INEC chairman to conduct two Nigerian General Elections (2011 and 2015).
He retired on June 30, 2015, and hand over his position to Amina Zakari after a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Attahiru Jega Political Party
Prof. Attahiru Jega alongside Prof. Pat Utomi launched Rescue Nigeria Project in September 2021, which they claimed will rescue Nigeria from the current bad economy.
According to Jega and Utomi, the new Political party will end All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party dominance.
Attahiru Jega is a Nigerian academic and former vice Chancellor, although his net worth has not been estimated yet.
DR. YUNUSA TANKO
He holds a HND in Marketing from Kaduna Polytechnic (now University of Technology, Kaduna) in 1992 and bagged a Post-Graduate Diploma in Co-operative Studies from the same institution in 1994. In 2006, he obtained a second HND degree in Accounting from Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria which followed with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria as well as an MBA from the same institution. In 2010, Tanko, a practicing Muslim, was bestowed with an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Leadership and Management from the Universal Christian Academy (UNICA) – a representative of Cambridge Advanced Technology Training in Affiliation with the University of London, United Kingdom.
Dr. Tanko is a Chartered Accountant and member of the following professional bodies, the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN), 2008 and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountant (ICMA). His working experience traverses civil service, politics and civil society. He has served in various capacities as Head of Accounts, National Population Commission, Kaduna, 1993-2000; Head of Revenue, Nigerian Immigration Service, Kano, 2000-2002 and Head of Finance, Team Nigeria Trust Fund Limited, FCT, Abuja, 2002.
Dr Tanko has served as the National Conscience party (NCP) Deputy National Chairman and National secretary at different times as well as a running mate to NCP’s presidential candidates Dr. Osagie Obayuwana in 2007 and Bashorun Dele Momodu in 2011. He was elected as the New National Chairman of NCP in 2012 and re elected in Akure Ondo State.
In 2007, he was appointed Secretary to the Coalition for a New Nigeria (CNN). Since 2009, Dr. Tanko has been Secretary of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) of all political parties in Nigeria and was elected as a chairman of the council for two terms on April 11th 2013 to 2014. Since 2003, he has served as the Assistant Secretary of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP).
With a rich background in social activism, Dr. Yunusa Tanko is a Secretariat Member of the Pastor Tunde Bakare led Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and played a very prominent role as Field Marshal of SNG protest to the National Assembly in 2010 and Aso Presidential villa. He was also a member of the National Peace Committee which contributed heavily to 2015 credible, peaceful, free and fair Election, led by former Head of State General Abdul salami Abubakar rtd.
Dr. Tanko is the recipient of the chieftaincy title – the Nwanne Ike Di Na Mba 1 of all Ndigbos in diaspora and is currently a Student of M.Phil / Phd in management at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria .
Members of the Adoration Ministry Enugu and supporters of Fr. Ejike Mbaka have threatened to take the ongoing protest to the premises of the Bishop of the Enugu Diocese, Bishop Callistus Onaga.
This is as worshipers numbering over a thousand on Sunday morning stormed the Adoration ground, to protest the closure of the Church.
Speaking to our Reporter, some of the worshippers who expressed displeasure with the decision of bishop said his decision was too harsh as it affected innocent catholic faithfuls.
“We don’t think the Bishop should have closed down the church over a comment made by our father and spiritual leader,” one of the protesters spoke in Igbo.
“Mbaka has done nothing wrong. What he ever said was his personal opinion and not that of the church so, I wonder why the Bishop should take such action against the church. Besides, He (Mbaka) has apologized.”
Another protester who spoke to our correspondent said, “The Bishop’s action will not affect Fr Mbaka in any way. We are the ones being affected here. We’re the ones suffering from this”.
“He (Mbaka) has been more than a father to us. They will not commend him for the good he is doing but will rather find fault in what he says”.
As at the time of this report, most of the worshippers were still seen at the Adoration ground dancing and singing as they have refused to leave the premises.
Good Governance Ministry, a political Ministry has hailed the decision of Federal High Court ,Abuja to stop Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from ending voter registration on 30 June 2022.
In a statement released to the BVI Channel 1 online , Chinedu Asuzu – The Leader of the Group described Honorable Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon Court Order as timely as INEC decision to stop voter registration by 30th of June would have worsen the security situation in the Country. The statement reads in full ‘ On behalf of Good Governance Ministry (GGM) ,I wish to appreciate Judiciary for coming to the aid of the masses. With the court order stopping INEC from ending voter registration by 30th of June , Judiciary has shown that our democracy has come to stay. The Ministry has few days ago instructed her legal team to commence legal action against INEC on the same issue of ending voter registration. GGM has noted during her on the spot assessment on the performance of continuous voter registration exercise, that INEC Staffers handling voter registration were not meeting the expectation of the Nigerians who were determined to participate in next year general election . Now that Nigerians have shown interest in Nigeria electoral process , everything humanly possible in line with the electoral laws ,should be done to discourage voter apathy. GGM will continue with voter education both online and offline until political power is returned to the people. The era of career politicians is fast going out of fashion including money politics. GGM is leading ballot revolution that will pave way for brand new political class around political power equations’ the message concluded.
Chinedu Asuzu ,however encouraged all Nigerians to go for PVC as if their lives depend on it. Asuzu noted that there were millions of voter cards already printed waiting for collection in INEC offices across the Country.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from ending voter registration on June 30, 2022.
The presiding Judge, Honourable Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon on Monday granted an order of interim injunction following the hearing of an argument on motion ex parte by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
SERAP and 185 concerned Nigerians had early this month filed the lawsuit against INEC asking the court to “declare unconstitutional, illegal, and incompatible with international standards the failure of the electoral body to extend the deadline for voter registration to allow eligible Nigerians to exercise their rights.”
In the suit, SERAP had asked the court for “an order restraining INEC, its agents, privies, assigns, or any other person(s) claiming through it from discontinuing the continuous voters’ registration exercise from the 30th June 2022 or any other date pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The suit is adjourned to June 29, 2022, for the hearing of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction.
The suit followed the decision by INEC to extend the deadline for the conduct of primaries by political parties by six days, from June 3 to June 9. But the commission failed to also extend the online pre-registration which ended May 30 2022 and the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) ending 30 June 2022.
In the suit number FHC/L/CS/1034/2022 filed at the Federal High Court, Lagos, and transferred to Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to determine “whether the failure of INEC to extend the deadline for voter registration is not a violation of Nigerian Constitution, 1999 [as amended], the Electoral Act, and international standards.”
SERAP is asking the court for “a declaration that the failure of INEC to extend the deadline for voter registration is a violation of eligible Nigerians’ rights to participate freely in their own government, equality and equal protection.
An order of mandamus to direct and compel INEC to extend voter registration by a minimum of three months and take effective measures to ensure that eligible Nigerians are able to register to exercise their right to vote in the 2023 general elections.”
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has said that his visit to Egypt is very expository and preparatory.
Peter Obi who was speaking during an interview with Voice of the People Fm on Sunday said that his visit is based on his understanding that “if you’re aspiring to lead, that’s the time you need to study and know what you are going to do. If there’s an example anywhere globally, you go there to learn.”
Peter Obi stated that his choice of Egypt is because they’re one of the countries with the fastest deployment of power globally, alongside Vietnam and India.
“Egypt moved their power from about 20,000MW to 58,000MW between 2015 and 2020, that’s 5 years, while Nigeria as a country was able to generate 1000MW in the 60s, 60 years after, they can’t generate above 4,000MW, that shows a crisis.
“If Egypt could move their generation by 30,000MW in 5 years and Nigeria could do only 4, 000 in 60 years, you need to go and learn what they did. I went there, I was taken round the facility, met the company that did it, went to the ministry, met the power holding company chief, met the people in the ministry, above all, met those who provided the finance. I now know its easy within a period of 5 years to move power generation, distribution and transmission from where we’re today to 15,000 to 20,000MW.”
Obi recalled that this isn’t his first time of visiting a working nation when aspiring for public office.
“When I was campaigning to be Governor, I visited Bangladesh for the first time, to learn how they dealt with the poor, took people out of poverty and know what they’re doing about education.
I did the same thing in rural India and found out that when we’re busy building mansions for leaders, they were building rural roads to give people access to bring agricultural produce they can sell and make money. Go and ask anybody as Governor of Anambra State, every part of Anambra was connected by rural roads and bridges, that’s what I learnt. That’s what I’m doing again. I went to Egypt to learn with my own resources.”
Peter Obi also revealed that he has been talking to local engineers about it too.
Obi also stated that he is getting ready for the job so he won’t complain about his predecessors when he assumes office like Nigerian leaders do, stressing that it’s not the job of a leader to complain but to show leadership.
“When you vote people in here, the next thing, they will start telling you is that what we saw, when we came in, or start blaming the person they took over from.
“As a leader, when you’re elected, you are meant to be in charge, you’re not meat to complain. The job of a leader isn’t to complain nor give excuses. It’s for you to solve problems.”
Former Anambra State governor Peter Obi is inspiring a powerful, social media-enabled, youth-led political tidal wave that will radically change the contours of the 2023 election.
But APC and PDP operatives, still inebriated with the overconfidence of the size and deep pockets of their parties, are sniggering at the suggestion that Peter Obi’s Labour Party will change the game next year. They comfort themselves with the mantra that there are no polling booths on social media where Peter Obi’s devotees form noisy cyber silos.
Well, there is no opponent more dangerous than an underestimated one. People who are habituated to the politics of the past may dismiss it, but something fundamentally novel is happening. There’s an unstoppably growing corps of fired-up young (and not-so-young) people who are investing their time, energy, and emotions in Peter Obi. We have seen spectacular spikes in PVC registration and an increase in offline political mobilization, all thanks to him.
Three factors appear to be driving this. One, there is mass disillusionment with the quality and character of the presidential candidates of the two major parties. They are the same woefully familiar, recycled, unimaginative, self-interested, careerist politicians who are deeply invested in sustaining the dysfunctions that keep Nigeria in the twilight zone between life and death.
They mouth the same flyblown clichés, can’t articulate any grand visions, are indistinguishable from past politicians, have no commitment to any grand ideals, and are in politics to steal from the public till and dispense favors to cronies.
Peter Obi seems to be different. He comes across as down-to-earth, self-aware, committed to transparency and the demystification of governance, and as someone who invests considerable intellectual energies into thinking about— and offering solutions to— Nigeria’s problems.
I am dubious of the facticity of some of his more self-righteous, messianic claims, and suspect that he sometimes hyperbolizes some of the too-good-to-be-true anecdotes about his time as Anambra State governor in order to gain the applause of his audiences.
As a scholar of rhetorical studies, I know that rhetors can sometimes feel an obligation to not violate the expectations of their captive audiences by telling stories that their audiences want to hear even if this means bending or sexing up the facts a little bit.
Nonetheless, compared to Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu, Peter Obi is a breath of fresh air.
The second impetus for the dramatic surge in Obi’s political profile is religious. Many Christians in both the South and the North feel excluded from the presidential tickets of the APC and the PDP. Churches all across Nigeria are drumming up support for Obi in protest.
I think this is legitimate in the interest of representational justice, particularly because Obi isn’t some pastor with a predetermined agenda to advance narrow religious or sectarian causes.
Although Obi is a devout Catholic, he is thoroughly secular and, based on some of his speeches I’ve watched, has a deep understanding of the imperative of separating the sacred and the profane in the business of governance.
The third driver of his popularity is Igbo resentment at their systemic political exclusion. In my April 2, 2022, column titled “Why Nigeria Needs an Igbo President in 2023,” I wrote:
“The Igbo are almost in the same spot that the Yoruba were in in 1998. There is mass resentment among them. Several of them feel emotionally disconnected from Nigeria. And we all know why. Apart from the fact that they have never produced a president or vice president since 1999, Muhammadu Buhari has done an extremely poor job of husbanding Nigeria’s intricate diversity.
“The sense of alienation that a vast swath of Igbo people feel now has made several of them, particularly their youth, susceptible to the murderous wiles of the mentally and emotionally disturbed mountebank called Nnamdi Kanu.”
Some of the secessionist oxygen that sustained Biafra agitation has now been redirected to Peter Obi, and Nnamdi Kanu has now been pushed on the backburner. While some people have put a negative spin to this, I think it is a golden opportunity. It shows that an Igbo presidency will solve the secessionist agitations and violence in the Southeast. For me, that’s a worthwhile reward for having a president who is Igbo.
Incidentally, in the April 2 column I referred to earlier, Peter Obi was one of two Igbo people I recommended as candidates for the presidency. The other was Kingsley Moghalu who sadly lost the primary election of his party.
I wrote: “The second is Peter Obi. In a March 25, 2022, article titled ‘Peter Obi: Applying to Be Driver of a Knocked-Out Car,’ I mentioned that listening to his speeches has captured my imagination. He appears to have a handle on Nigeria’s problems, and what I’ve read of his record as governor of Anambra State inspires some confidence that he isn’t just a talker. I can’t speak to his cosmopolitanism and commitment to seeing all of Nigeria as his constituency. That’s up to voters to find out.”
If Obi’s political momentum holds steady until February next year and the election is free and fair, I predict that he will cause a runoff. If he leads with the youth, Igbo, and Christian votes (I know there’s an overlap in some categories), he will upset both the APC and the PDP to the point that none of them can win in the first round of the presidential election.
If he doesn’t win or qualify to participate in the runoff, whoever he supports will be the winner. So, an intelligent political party won’t antagonize him or his supporters just yet.
But there are dangers for Obi, though, should he somehow defeat the structural impediments on his way to become president. First, his devotees call themselves “Obidients” and demand “Obidience” to him. That’s horrible. They would be worse than Buhari’s BMC trolls.
What is needed in democracy is critical citizenship, not “obidience.” “Obidience” in democracy suggests a surrender of one’s critical faculty, which is what precisely what Buharism is. It’s the death knell of democracy.
Obi’s rise to political stardom is propelled by anger at the political establishment. That’s the literal definition of populism. Populism instrumentalizes anger for politics without being able to transform the lives of the angry in any meaningful way.
Obi’s devotees imagine him to embody the solutions to Nigeria’s problems and expect him to wave the magic wand and make them disappear. As he himself admitted in a previous public appearance, Nigeria’s problems are structural and systemic and can’t be resolved with a mere change of the personnel in the corridors of power.
If his presidency violates the expectations of his devotees, they will turn against him. In other words, he is riding the tiger of populism, and it will devour him when he dismounts from it.
Presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, has confirmed that there’s ongoing talks for a possi2 coalition involving his party and Peter Obi’s Labour Party (LP).
“We are really talking to Peter Obi, or at least saying that the committee is working to look into the matter (and cooperate with him), and friends and family are coming to talk to us about it,” Mr Kwankwaso told BBC Hausa Saturday morning.
In the interview with BBC, Mr Kwankwaso argued that their collaboration was especially important as the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had not fielded an Igbo vice-presidential candidate.
The are reports that the former Kano State governor will team up with his former Anambra counterpart, become the Vice Presidential candidate to challenge the two major political parties in the country.
The development was also confirmed by the NNPP via their official twitter account.
We wish to inform Nigerians that, our discussions with @PeterObi and the #LabourParty are still ongoing. Special committee was set to discuss arrangements.
“We hope for good results that will give Nigeria a chance to be alive, once again,” they tweeted.
While LP announced a placeholder for the position of its vice presidential candidate in the person of Doyin Okupe, its not yet clear whom the NNPP submitted the electoral umpire.
