The Nigerian Army has accused the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, and its security wing, ESN of setting vehicles, houses on fire in Awo-Mmamma, Imo State.
In a statement released by Abubakar Abdullahi, Major Acting Deputy Director Army Public Relations 82 Division Nigerian Army and obtained by IGBERE TV, the Nigerian Army said in the quest to compel citizens to comply with the unlawful sit-at-home order, IPOB/ESN criminals indulged in harassment, intimidation and physical abuse of commuters going about their lawful businesses.
According to the statement,
” the criminals went further to carry out arson and destruction of businesses and homes at Ishieke junction (along Owerri-Onitsha express way) as a vendetta against the citizens for not complying with the illegal order.”
“The hoodlums who had earlier blocked the highway, set ablaze a commercial vehicle heading towards Onitsha. Vigilant troops responding to distress calls by motorists and shop owners swiftly moved to the scene and engaged the hoodlums in a firefight. The troops overwhelmed the hoodlums forcing them to scamper in different directions.”
“The troops pursued the hoodlums to their hideout in Akatta Community in Oru East LGA, where a member of the group was neutralized in the shootout. While the troops engaged the hoodlums in their hideout, other members of the group who alleged that some individuals had volunteered information to the troops mustered at Ishieke junction and set ablaze houses and businesses of law abiding citizens. The troops again returned to the junction to disperse the hoodlums. Unfortunately, a galant soldier paid the supreme prize in defence of the people.”
record that since the sad events of 5 April 2021 when some unscrupulous elements invaded the Custodial Centre in Owerri and freed more than 1,800 inmates, there has been an upsurge in criminalities such as kidnapping, car jacking, robbery, unwarranted killing and arson in Imo State. These criminal elements have since then wreaked havoc in the State and its environs.”
” Even in the face of unwholesome propaganda by IPOB/ESN, other criminal elements and their collaborators to misinform and mislead Nigerians on the truth regarding the arson at Awo-Mmamma, the NA will continue to remain professional.”
“The NA appeals to the good people of Imo State to ignore the propaganda and threats by IPOB and its affiliate groups, who despite their deceitful calls cancelling the monday sit at home order, have continued to intimidate and harass citizens who come out to do their legitimate business.”
The co-convener of Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG, Aisha Yesufu, has called on the National Assembly to Impeach the president that even the Northerners are tired of him.
The popular Nigerian activist made the call in reaction to the massive attack on travellers along the Abuja-Kaduna highway where a lot of persons were kidnapped by Bandits.
The National Assembly, what are you doing? What part of the Constitution have you not read on when you can impeach the president?
Impeach Buhari nothing is going to happen, even the people in the North are sick and tired of the president. Go down to the street and feel the pulse of the people about the president.
Buhari is there, watching while the people are being killed, all he does is to travel.
Nigerians are being killed, all he cares about is to carry soldiers to the Southeast. Nnamdi Kanu is his problem while his people are being killed and its non of his problems
Yesufu said the president have failed Nigerians and asked why President Mohammadu Buhari is still the president of Nigeria alleging that the president is “destroying the country for us, our children, grandchildren and our descendants and we are doing nothing about it.”
She also chided Northerners for their silence in the face of the insecurity and questioned why there’s no outrage from they like they do when there’s a national campaign like the #EndSARS protest.
Northern people where are you!! Life does no longer matter right? Where’s is the #SecureNorth?
“When it’s time to do a hash tag against EndSARS or any other person’s problems, you will come out and remember that the North isn’t secured. But when people are being killed, you won’t know that the North isn’t secured. It’s protest is Haram, all of a sudden northern lives no longer matters because a northern person is the president.”
Aisha maintained posited that “Buhari should be chased out of the Villa.”
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has dismissed the report of the Lagos state panel that investigated the #EndSARS massacre as fake news.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, he said the report submitted to Lagos state governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu is a rehash of already circulating fake news.
Mohammed maintained that instead of sitting for one year, the panel should have just compiled social media reports and wound up.
The minister alleged that the report is ridden with discrepancies, innuendos, inconsistency and errors.
He wondered what the panel meant by its conclusion of “massacre in context,” declaring that it can only be a “phantom massacre.”
The minister remarked that the report did not make any recommendations for innocent victims killed in Lagos, saying that it cannot be relied upon.
Following the threats by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Andy Uba of going to the Election Petitions Tribunal to contest the outcome of the November 6, 2021 gubernatorial election in Anambra State in which he took a distant third position, the Director, Media and Communication, Soludo Campaign Organization, Mr. C. Don Adinuba has urged Anambra people not to worry about any likely antics by the controversial former senator.
Adinuba who made the call in a statement in Awka on Tuesday recalled that a number of Anambra people, including people from his (Uba’s)hometown of Uga in Aguata Local Government Area, had been warning Senator Andy Uba of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against carrying out his threat of going to the Election Petitions Tribunal following the November 6 gubernatorial election in Anambra State in which he took a distant third position, despite the APC being the national government party.
He observed that the warning was hinged on two considerations: the need to build on the culture of social harmony which the state had created since 2017 when the candidates of the major parties congratulated Governor Willie Obiano on his massive re-election and the need to maintain judicial integrity, since most Nigerians do not regard Uba as someone who played by rules in political games.
He noted that much as the concerns of those people were legitimate and much as it was acknowledged that Uba could ordinarily sue in a democracy if he was genuinely dissatisfied with the process or outcome of an electoral exercise, Anambra people need not worry about any likely antics by the controversial former senator contending that he had no locus standi to approach the Election Petitions Tribunal.
According to Adinuba who is also the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Anambra State, “He was never the APC candidate in the November 6 election. Uba himself knows this to be the fact in his heart. Hence, he instructed his lawyer, Abubakar Magaji Mahmud (SAN), to do everything within his power to stop Mr. Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja from delivering judgment on November 4, 2021 on a case brought by Chief George Moghalu, Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority and founding APC member who sought the party’s ticket to contest in the governorship election.
Chief Moghalu is suing the party for forwarding Uba’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its nominee in the election.
“The reason given by Uba and his lawyer for seeking to stop the judgment was that the outcome of the judicial decision would have severe consequences for them since the election would take place two days later. Justice Ekwo, out of pity, decided to postpone the judgment. From all indications, Uba knows how the judgment will turn out any time it is given. After all, INEC has written a report stating that no primary election took place.”
The Commissioner maintained that every APC leader believed there was no primary election on June 26, 2021, which Senator Uba or any other person could have won and therefore, qualified to be the party’s standard bearer.
“Senator Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment and the party’s leader in Anambra State who is also a former Anambra State governor, has repeatedly stated in public that there was no primary election on June 26.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that on two occasions the Andy Uba Gubernatorial Campaign Council announced that President Muhammadu Buhari would grace the flag-off of its electioneering campaign and on two occasions the president ignored the council. The council later announced that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would attend its flag-off in Onitsha on September 25, only for the respected Vice President, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and evangelical pastor to distance himself from them for fear of soiling his image. No APC governor or minister or senator attended any function by Uba. Hence, Uba entered the history book as the only APC member to participate in a governorship race without the President or Vice President or even a representative in attendance. Senator Uba also made history as the only APC membership to take part in a gubernatorial election without ever having a campaign flag-off anywhere.
“All this owes to the fact that Andy Uba was never the APC candidate in the November 6 election in Anambra State. His purported candidature will be nullified formally once Justice Ekwo delivers judgment on the suit brought by Chief Moghalu, one of the other 13 APC governorship aspirants swindled by party operatives who came to Anambra State to conduct the party’s congress and primary election after each of the aspirants had paid a whopping 23 million naira for the Expression of Interest/Governorship Nomination Form”, he submitted.
Adinuba went on to explain that Andy Uba and his group took “dubiousness” too far when they claimed that he received 230,201 out of the phantom 348,490 votes cast in the so-called primary election arguing that no journalist saw any APC member vote anywhere, no observer witnessed any party congress and no party member in the state participated in either the congress or the alleged primary election.
He continued, “Of course, there are not up to 20,000 APC members in Anambra State where the party had its worst result in the 2019 general election throughout Nigeria by winning a mere five percent. Hence, Uba could not garner more than 43,285 votes in the November 6 governorship election, as opposed to Professor Chukwuma Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) who got 112,229 votes and Mr. Valentine Ozigbo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 53,807 votes.”
While noting that Anambra people were satisfied that the party which took second in the election had congratulated the winner, just as the APC which came third, he further disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari said he was looking forward to working closely with Professor Soludo, a former Central Bank governor and a member of his Committee of Economic Advisers, for the development of not just Anambra State but the Southeast.
“It is, indeed, a mark of gross indiscipline that after President Buhari, the APC leader, has congratulated Professor Soludo on his massive victory in 19 out of the 21 local government areas in Anambra State, Uba, who could not win in even one local government area, is threatening Anambra people with fire and brimstone as well as with the so-called Imo formula which, in his fanciful world, could make a person who took a very pathetic third position occupy Anambra Government House. It is regrettable that Uba has not learned anything from the disgraceful Birnin Kudu High Court drama and the awful Abuja Customary Court ruling which he sponsored against Soludo. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court have since corrected the two judicial embarrassments.
“Anambra people and all Nigerians are enjoined to disregard the threat from Uba and his so-called supporters who want to milk so much from him in the belief that he is just what Nigerians call ‘money miss road’. All local and international observers like the European Union/ United Kingdom delegation have confirmed that the November 6 election was free and fair and transparent. Local and international journalists who covered the historic election are of the same view. Foreign governments have congratulated the Anambra people on having a great election. The massive rejoicing in Anambra State and beyond over the outcome shows the profound legitimacy of INEC’s declaration of Professor Soludo as the winner of the November 6 vote. It is time to ignore Uba, a bad loser who was never the APC candidate in the first place”, he concluded.
The political revolution to fix our politics,our environment and our economy have quietly commenced in Anambra State being the light of the Nation. Many are still doubting the efficacy of people movement targeted towards effecting revolutionary change within our society but with Good Governance Ministry in partnership with revolutionary online media platform – BVI Channel 1 ,the rather impossible mission is gradually becoming possible. This is a silent revolution that does not require media hype as the good work will speak for itself.
Some few months ago , many of our followers across the globe did not believe in ballot revolution. To them ,our vote cannot count and people were deceive to believe that boycotting election was the best option . GGM was not discouraged by the people political ignorance and with the cankerworm ravishing the political space – money politics ,promoted and advanced by the visionless and corrupt political class. With determination ,our gospel of ideological politics was sustained through town hall meeting ,radio programs and social media messaging . GGM played a unique and unpopular type of Politics viz public interest driven politics as against personal interest. Politics determines everything but our people have failed to realize that our political ignorance is root cause of our societal problem ,hence the need for a political ministry that would drive a brand new political culture
It is no longer news that things have really fallen apart! Chinua Achebe wrote a long time ago ‘ Things Fall Apart’ but we did not pay attention. It is not about confronting the external enemies alone,it is also instituting the right culture that would encourage hardworking and discourage ‘ego mbute’ . People prefer the easy way out,cutting corners and unfortunately our society celebrates men with questionable characters.
However ,upon all odds ,Anambra State elected a great Reformer – Prof Chukwuma Soludo as the Governor -elect to build public institutions that would facilitate and guarantee Good Governance and public accountability .Public expectation is on the high side as people are dire need for equitable distribution of scarce resources and transformational Leadership.
The message of Good Governance Ministry is spreading like wildlife and cannot be quenched as our God is behind the divine mission. Nobody stops peoples project on rescue mission.
Kingsley Moghalu, politician and changemaker, ex-Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, university professor and former United Nations diplomat, will deliver a series of public lectures this week at the prestigious Oxford University, where he is currently the Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow at the university’s Oxford Martin School, a research institute focused on finding solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.
The lectures will cover the subjects of politics, economics, and international relations and diplomacy, in which Moghalu has played global and national leadership roles in the past three decades.
On Wednesday November 24, Moghalu will speak at the Oxford Martin School on “The Political Economy of Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities for Reform”. According to an announcement by the Oxford Martin School on its website, Moghalu will “examine how the the West African country’s foundation as a British colony, and the contemporary challenges of nationhood and political order formation, the resource curse of oil, corruption, and the absence of a strong leadership culture have created incentives for Nigeria’s current dysfunction. He identifies not just seven critical challenges, but also offers seven paths to reform and a longer term resolution of the country’s political and economic challenges. The result, if his prescriptions happen, could be the delayed emergence of Africa’s first truly indigenous global power”.
The former presidential candidate in the 2019 elections and presidential aspirant for 2023 will also lecture on Thursday, November 25 at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, a post-graduate school of public policy that trains leaders in governments around the world. He will speak on the subject of “Emerging Markets in the World Economy: Comparative Advantages and Economic Complexities of Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa”. He will then address the Oxford Diplomatic Society the next day, Friday afternoon, in “A Conversation with the Oxford Diplomatic Society on International Relations in the 21st Century: New Problems, New Opportunities”.
The scheduled events, with options for both in-person or virtual participation, are expected to draw senior members of the Oxford University teaching faculty, students, visitors and members of the Oxford community from the United Kingdom and other countries including Nigeria. Moghalu is an Academic Visitor at Oxford for the university’s Michaelmas Term (October to December) 2021.
There was news report today that a group of Igbo grandees, billed as “Highly Respected Igbo Greats”, trundled out to Abuja to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, asking for an unconditional release of Mr Nnamdi Kanu, the incarcerated leader of the Independent Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
The delegation included Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, a First Republic parliamentarian and Minister of Aviation, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife, former Governor of Anambra State, Bishop Sunday Onuoha of the Methodist Church, and Chief Barrister Goddy Uwazurike, former President of Igbo socio-cultural group, Aka Ikenga. Buhari received them well and promised to consider their request (see report here: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-east/496261-igbo-leaders-meet-buhari-want-nnamdi-kanu-released.html).
The opinion that follows below will probably sound insensitive coming from an Igbo man, but I think the Igbo grandees who went to plead with Buhari to release Kanu made a grievous mistake.
No doubt the Igbo grandees meant well. They probably felt they had to act, likely on behalf of a scandalized Igbo political elite facing increasing pressure from a radicalized Igbo rank and file. But, in my opinion, their plea to President Buhari is constitutionally illiterate; it is politically inastute; and it is an ill-considered move that will likely hobble IPOB’s long-term revolutionary strategy.
Buhari was right to have stated, as reported in response to the Igbo delegation, that its plea offends a fundamental tenet of the Nigerian constitution, which is *separation of powers*. This constitutional principle was first fully articulated by Baron de Montesquieu, one of the great political philosophers of the Enlightenment, in his seminal work, *_The Spirit of the Laws_*, published in 1748. The principle was invoked by Montesquieu as a major critique of feudal absolutism in France and elsewhere in Europe, and it greatly influenced the constitutional ideals of both the American and the French revolutions. It has since become a cornerstone of modern constitutional government.
In Nigeria, we have adopted and are deepening this constitutional principle as a revolutionary departure from the tripartite absolutisms of our history – first the feudal absolutism that flourished in several proto-Nigerian territories; then British imperialist absolutism; and finally, military absolutism.
The case against Nnamdi Kanu is now _sub judice_ and is yet to be dispositioned; therefore, it is unclear if Buhari actually has the power to intervene legally in the matter. Of course, the president has significant latitude under Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution which deals with the exercise of prerogative of mercy. The provision imbues a Nigerian president with the power to “grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by an Act of the National Assembly a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions.” I doubt if this power can be exercised prior to the disposition of a case, but maybe our constitutional lawyers can weigh in on the interpretation.
Aside from the constitutional issue, there is also the political implication, for the Igbos, of its leaders, or purported leaders, going to Abuja to plead on behalf of Kanu. What is the object of their plea: are they asking for “forgiveness” – which would sound like a suggestion or an admission that Kanu and his IPOB are doing something wrong?
If so, the question arises as to what they think IPOB is getting wrong: is it the charge of Igbo marginalization and persecution which IPOB has levied against the Nigerian state? Or is it the particular revolutionary tactics adopted by the group? What are the Igbo grandees pleading that Buhari should forgive, if the thesis of their plea is indeed forgiveness?
Even if the Igbo leaders did not mean to ask for “forgiveness”, it will certainly be imputed as such by Buhari and his regime. They will read the intervention as an apology; they will construe it as Igbo leaders begging for forgiveness, which will be rather unfortunate.
There are at least two grievous implications from such an imputation by the Buhari regime. One pertains to near-term Igbo political interests, and the other to IPOB’s long-term revolutionary project.
If the Buhari regime reads the intercession of the Igbo grandees as a plea for forgiveness, Buhari could (over)leverage his powers under section 175 of the Constitution to pardon Kanu, but he will exact a heavy political price from the Igbos for the concession. One, we can forget the idea of an Igbo president in 2023. The Nigerian state, or the dominant elite therein, already feels that conceding the presidency to the Igbos is a major concession, and even a risk. Buhari may be advised by his political strategists – and the wily president may accept the advice – to “free” Nnamdi Kanu as a substitute for conceding the presidency to the Igbos in the near term.
More than the presidency, Buhari and his anti-Igbo coterie could also leverage the “forgiveness” of Nnamdi Kanu to continue and even intensify federal disinvestment of Igboland.
Igboland has suffered from a systematic policy asphyxiation since the end of the Civil War, despite the ‘No Victor, No Vanquished’ nostrum enunciated after the war. We went from a hot, shooting war in 1967-70 to a cold war of policy neglect thereafter. This has resulted in relentless de-industrialization and infrastructure decay in Igbo territories.
The plea to pardon Nnamdi Kanu could become another chip to be used by the anti-Igbo forces in the Nigerian regime to further reduce federal investment in Igboland. A heavy price.
But it is not just the geopolitical implication for the Igbos that matters here. What would become of IPOB’s revolutionary strategy if its virulent leader were “pardoned”, with conditions, by the Nigerian state?
We know now, from the constant complaints of Nnamdi Kanu and his lawyers, that the guy is no Nelson Mandela who refused P. W. Botha’s offer in 1985 to release him from prison, subject to certain conditions. Rejecting the terms offered by the apartheid government for his release, Mandela had said to Botha:
I cannot sell my birthright, nor am I prepared to sell the birthright of the people to be free… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.
This was 1985. Mandela was 66 years old at the time and had been in prison for about 23 years. Yet, he refused an offer to be freed from prison if it would hobble the revolutionary goals of his party, the ANC, which was to overthrow the apartheid system under which South African Blacks labored.
But we are seeing now that our Nnamdi Kanu is no Mandela. Since his incarceration, his lawyers and associates have been howling about his suffering; he has used his IPOB to terrorize his own people, undermining Igbo economy, preventing school children from attending school, and generally imposing a reign of terror in Igboland.
Buhari and his gang will no doubt perceive that Kanu has little tolerance for the austerities of life under incarceration, this being the evident reason why he is sabotaging and terrorizing his own people and pressuring Igbo elites to plead for his release. So, it would stand to reason that Buhari will impose severe conditions against IPOB’s revolutionary quest in order to pardon Kanu.
Does anyone think that Buhari will pardon Kanu and yet give him free rein to continue his radical attack on the Nigerian state, or even to continue to press the Igbo case?
Not me!
So, whichever way one looks at it, this outing by the Igbo grandees, though well-meaning, is a major strategic error. It undermines not only IPOB’s revolutionary agenda but also the larger geopolitical interest of Igbo people.
It might be better for Kanu to go through the crucible of judicial trial and hopefully come out triumphant. That way, he and his IPOB will retain the moral right to continue their agitation, even if they have to amend their strategy.
And Igbo people will not have conceded anything in their demand for equal citizenship and equal opportunity in the firmament of Nigerian politics.
Truth kills all lies . Our people need solution . We have provoked the Masses to appreciate the ugly situation in Nigeria but the next stage is to provide solution. GGM and BVI Channel 1 are offering solution in practical terms.
Super structure controls the substructure. Our politicians have destroyed the superstructure. We need brand new Political class to organise the people . The job is not easy but must be done. Don’t wait until you become the Governor or elected person , start now no matter how small.
Though , a lot depends on our institutions to show directions. For instance , millions of our active human resources are being wasted because of certificate driven education system . Our system is designed to support and encourage consumption and has no room for creativity and production . That is why we cannot solve our very simple problems like poor road infrastructure, high cost of food , housing , healthcare,access to cheap loanable fund etc. Visionary Leadership can solve all these problems by assembling brand new Political class ready to serve and add value .
Ndubuisi Anaenugwu is the Deputy Leader of Good Governance Ministry (GGM)
