Against the numerous court injunctions and rulings barring the candidate of the Peter Obi faction of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], Val Ozigbo from parading himself as the gubernatorial candidate for the PDP in the upcoming election of November 6, 2021, the national secretariat of the PDP has identified Val Ozigbo has their gubernatorial candidate for the November 6th election.
“Long before any court ruling, Valentine Ozigbo name had been submitted to INEC. The party had submitted Valentine Ozigbo’s name before any injunctions.” – said the public relations officer of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, when asked whether PDP submitted any name of it Anambra gubernatorial candidate to the INEC.
It is recalled the PDP held to primary election by two factions – one led by former governor of Anambra state, Mr. Peter Obi and the other led by a former godfather and stakeholder of the PDP, Mr. Chris Uba. Both primaries produced their respective candidates. The Peter Obi led faction produced Val Ozigbo while the Chris Uba faction produced Senator Ugochukwu Uba.
But the national chairman of the PDP was quick to recognize the candidacy and emergence of Val Ozigbo. He presented Ozigbo with the certificate of victory. This is as Chris Uba took to the court house to obtain rulings barring Val Ozigbo from parading himself as the PDP gubernatorial candidate for Anambra State.
Presently, as the PDP national body indicated, Val Ozigbo remains the PDP candidate – until the INEC is instructed to do otherwise.
INEC speaks on controversial Anambra APC governorship primary.
•Controversy is trailing the primary as INEC and aspirants insist the event did not hold.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has spoken up about the controversial primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra State.
INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye, told our Reporter that the Commission received a damning report on the APC primary from its officials.
Mr Okoye, however, said top officials of the electoral body were yet to meet to consider the document and take a decision.
“The Commission has not taken a decision on the issue. A political party may conduct primaries and refuse to upload the list and personal particulars of its candidates,” he said.
Mr Okoye spoke just as INEC ends the uploading of the list and personal particulars of nominated candidates today (9 July).
The governorship election in Anambra State has been fixed for 6 November.
The INEC spokesperson said the 18 registered parties interested in contesting the November 6 governorship election gave the commission the statutory 21 days notice of their intention to conduct primaries, adding that its officials monitored the primaries of the parties that gave the required notice and issued reports.
He said, “If a party organised primaries in accordance with the law, the Commission will report what it observed. If the organisation and conduct fell short of the law and party guidelines the Commission will report.
All the parties complied with the June 10-July 1, 2021 timetable for the conduct of primaries.
“The Commission has not disqualified any candidate. The Chairman of each of the parties will be given the access code to the INEC party nomination portal. The uploading of the list and personal particulars of nominated candidates will end on the 9th July 2021.”
The APC said it conducted its primary election on 26 June at Golden Tulip Hotel, Agulu Lake in Awka, the state capital, during which a former senator, Andy Uba, emerged winner, beating 13 other aspirants.
Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, who headed the APC primary election committee that conducted the primary, said Mr Uba got 230,201 votes while his closest rival, Johnbosco Onunkwo, garnered 28,746 votes.
Mr Abiodun said the total vote cast was 348,490, adding that the committee adopted the open ballot mode also known as Option A4 to conduct the primary election.
The other aspirants and their scores, according to the governor, are Chidozie Nwankwo, 21,281; George Moghalu 18,596; Paul Orajiaka 4, 348; Geoff Onyejeagbu 3,414, Azuka Okwuosa 17,189; Nwokafor Daniel 3,335, Ikeobasi Mokelu 3,727, Kwebuike Ifeanyi 1,466 and Godwin Okonkwo 5,907.
He also listed Ben Etiaba as scoring 4,244 votes, Edozie Madu 3,636 and Maxwell Okoye 2,540.
But INEC officials deployed to monitor the exercise said the APC did not conduct any primary contrary to the claims by the party’s electoral panel.
In their report obtained by our Reporter, the officials of the electoral body said they witnessed no voting or accreditation of voters.
The report, dated 26 June, was signed by Ibe U. Ibe, head, election and party monitoring, Anambra State; Nkechi Abah, assistant director, election and party monitoring, INEC headquarters and Modibbo Bellel, principal executive officer, election and party monitoring, INEC headquarters.
The report said although there were large turnouts of APC members at voting centres, the party’s election officials failed to show up to conduct the exercise.
It also said besides accreditation and voting, INEC monitors did not witness collation of results at the collation centres.
“While members of the party were seen waiting at designated voting centres, party electoral officials were not available at the voting centres.
“The monitors deployed by the Commission noted that APC election officials did not arrive at the designated voting centres between 8a.m. and 5:30p.m., thus accreditation and voting did not take place during the period.
“No resolutions nor decisions were made at voting centres monitored because of the unavailability of the election officials between 8.00a.m. and 5.30p.m. when the Commission’s monitors were deployed,” part of the report read.
The report also said electoral materials were not available at the APC voting centres up to 5:30p.m. when monitors withdrew from the field.
“Contrary to the provisions of Section 5 of the Guidelines for the Conduct of Direct Primaries used by APC, accreditation of party members did not take place in any of the voting centres in Anambra State, up to the time INEC’s monitors were recalled by 5.30p.m
“The Commission’s monitors did not witness accreditation, voting, counting of votes collation or declaration of result at the voting centres and collation centres up till 5:30p.m. when the monitors were recalled.”
Also, 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants of the party said the governorship primary did not hold.
The spokesperson for the aspirants, George Moghalu, had in a press conference in Awka, said in all the 326 electoral wards of the state, people came out to vote, but that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility of conducting the primary and the INEC officials were seen.
Another member of the party and minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, corroborated the position of the aspirants.
In a statement on 26 June, the minister said as of 4.25pm that day, there was no sign of any primary going on at his native Alor, which has two electoral wards.
“My inquiries and investigation show that the story is the same all around the 326 wards of the 21 local government areas in the state,” he said.
The minister had earlier called for the postponement of the primary “to enable party members across the state to participate as well as give enough room to the Committee Members to resolve contentious issues raised by aspirants.”
However, Mr Okoye said any aspirant, candidate, political party or individual that is aggrieved with the organisation, conduct or issues arising from the conduct of their primaries “can utilise section 285(14) of the Constitution and section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010(as amended) and challenge same in Court.”
Uncertainty over APC’s participation in the poll
There are however fears among some members of the APC that the party may not be allowed to present a candidate in the November poll as a result of the controversy trailing the primary election.
While it is not clear whether the results announced by Mr Abiodun will be accepted or rejected by INEC, the commission’s report could however lead to possible disqualification of the APC if the latter turns out to be the case.
Going by INEC’s timetable for the election, parties were supposed to hold their primaries between June 10 and July 1.
Besides, Section 87(9) of the Electoral Act (as amended) prescribes that any political party that fails to comply with the provision of the Act in the conduct of its primaries shall not be included in the election.
When contacted, Okelo Madukaife, the spokesperson of the APC in the state, said it would be “subjudice” to speak on the issue because the party’s national leadership had set up an appeal panel to hear complaints of aspirants.
“Everyone has gone to appeal panel and the report is being awaited,” Mr Madukaife told our Reporter on Thursday.
In 2019, the APC missed presenting candidates for the governorship elections in Rivers and Zamfara States over issues relating to the party’s primary elections in the two states.
Internal wrangling among leaders of the party in Zamfara resulted in the inability to conduct the primary election within the stipulated time.
Although the APC faction loyal to the then governor, Abdulaziz Yari, claimed it held congresses and had candidates, the faction loyal to a former senator, Kabiru Marafa, insisted no primaries held. The party headquarters also said no primaries were held but said it adopted consensus arrangement in picking candidates within the stipulated time.
Eventually, INEC left out the APC from all elections in Zamfara State in 2019.
In Rivers, a federal high court ruled that the APC disobeyed a high court order on its congresses and that the primaries that produced its candidates were therefore null and void.
The APC in Rivers was split into two, with a faction loyal to the transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, and another loyal to a senator, Magnus Abe.
It was based on the high court ruling that INEC refused to recognise any APC candidate in Rivers.
Founder of the Customary Government for the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Barrister Emeka Emekesiri says that even as the method and manner of the re-arrest of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu could be faulted, Kanu’s rearrest may make many resonate with the original philosophy and method of operation of IPOB before it was hijacked by Kanu.
Emekesiri said that the way forward for IPOB now is to stick to its original legal and political frameworks. He said that whereas his own IPOB is pursuing restructuring in the present time, it looks forward to a Biafra that could still be part of Nigeria until a referendum is conducted among the Biafrans on whether to remain in Nigeria or pull out as an independent nation.
Emekesiri said that the original IPOB which he propels is following up its submission at the just concluded constitutional amendment review for devolution of powers and restructuring of Nigeria back to regional governments, which in the present time will compose of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. He said that getting the regional government will be getting closer to Biafra, which he said is the ultimate determination of the Indigenous people of Biafra, the remnants of the old Biafra Republic of Eastern Nigeria that is a customary entity.
He also spoke of Asari Dokubu and Ralp Uwazurike’s buy in the IPOB Customary government project. He regrets that people tend to listen more to Nnamdi Kanu’s version of IPOB than the original philosophy for creation of IPOB. He said that the present agitation of Biafra is a self assertion of the remnants of the people of Biafra who were not wiped out by the Nigeria genocide against Biafra between 1967 and 1970. Excerpts:
What is your immediate reaction on the re-arrest of Mazi Nnamdi kanu?
Yes, as a lawyer I always believe in the rule of law and that the course of justice should always be followed and justice should take its course and I cannot speak anything contrary to what the law says. I understand he was standing trial and he has been brought to continue his trial and so if that is what happened, it’s ok. I cannot oppose what the law says because someone who is standing trial and he jumped the bail is bound to return and continue his trial.
But does that require that he should be abducted or extradited without due process?
From what I read, he was not arrested in UK, assuming it was in UK, the UK government would have followed the process of extradition. I don’t know where he was arrested but if it were in UK, definitely he would have gone through the extradition process.
So it was abduction then?
No, what I am saying is that from what I read, he was arrested but not in the UK. If you make yourself available for arrest, you will be arrested. Remember it was not only the Nigerian authority that was involved, the Interpol was also involved.
Shouldn’t that be when one is declared as a criminal, is Nnamdi Kanu a criminal?
No, but if you are declared wanted, there was a bench warrant issued by a court when the court revoked his bail. When the court cancelled his bail, the court issued a bench warrant for him to be arrested and so there is a bench warrant on him. He was aware there was a bench warrant issued by a Judge for him to be arrested and maybe he put himself in a way where he was arrested.
So, now that Nnamdi Kanu who hijacked the original IPOB that you founded is down, what is the future of IPOB?
We are still on, our future has never been in argument, we are still moving forward, we are the ones who are before the Nigerian government, we are the ones who presented our Biafra bills before the National Assembly, are we not the ones who are in court with Nigeria even the court of Appeal right now?
The original IPOB is still going on and nothing has happened to us, it’s just that those of you guys in the media, you promote the Nnamdi Kanu faction because he makes a lot of noise and you don’t want to promote the one that is before the Nigeria government. You can take a telephone now and call Aso Rock, call the Senate President and ask about us, they have our documents, they have our case and our papers are before the Nigeria authorities. So we are moving forward and nothing has stopped us from moving forward.
So Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest concerns his own faction, his cult, he built a cult of gangsters and so he is not speaking for us. Let it be known that Nnamdi Kanu does not speak for the Igbo nation. The Igbo nation made our point clear in 1995, we held a meeting, the Biafra elders held a meeting in 1994 at Nzuko Igbo conference in Enugu and drew the map on the way forward, both for Biafra and for Nigeria and we brought this proposal before the national conference organised by General Abacha in 1995 and it was approved.
We want Nigeria to be restructured into six nations in one, that is our stand, the stand of elders of Biafra land; that is the stand of Igbo elders that we want Nigeria to be restructured into six nations in one and that was why we created the six regions. The Igbo elders created these six geopolitical zones you are hearing about today and we want these six geopolitical zones now to become six nations in one Nigeria, for now. Our stand is clear, Nnamdi Kanu is not speaking for us, and he doesn’t speak for the Igbo nation.
Has the Biafra case ever been heard on the floor of the National Assembly?
Of course I told you that we have presented our memorandum before the national Assembly, the Senate committee on the constitution review. The procedure is that now that we have presented our case, they will now discuss and debate on it and put it to vote. The Biafra prayers, what we are asking for is what we presented before the committee in all the centers of the six geopolitical regions.
Asri Dokubu suddenly appeared in your game, what is the connection of Dokubu in IPOB?
Asari Dokubu at a point they said he wanted to come into the umbrella of the customary government and I said that’s good, there is customary government instituted by the elders of which I am their spokesman or Chairman of the governing council, so I said if that is the case let us go ahead and let us agree on the way forward, how do we harmonise our activities because they have their own structures, different organizations, let us come together.
While I was in Enugu, I made a move and called Asari Dokubu and requested for a meeting with Ralph Uwazuruike but Asari said he will not be able to come to Owerri because of security reasons, and then I called Uwazuruike and asked that we go to Yenegoa and Ralph said he was very busy. At one point I said ok you are not available and Asari is not available, how do we go about it because the three of us should sit down together and plan on how to work together but they did not agree.
The next thing I heard was that we were creating an implementation committee called Customary Government Implementation committee and I agreed and asked what shall we implement because we already have programmes on the ground? And the next thing I heard was an announcement that he will create 20 Biafra provinces. In fact he said that the 20 original Biafra provinces created legally by Ojukwu, that they are resuscitating and reviving the 20 provinces of Biafra. I said what! In which territory, I said that Biafra has no territory right now.
We live in Nigeria territory right now; we are Biafrans living in Nigeria. The law is that the territory belongs to Nigeria, so where are you creating your territories from, in Nigeria territory? We are Biafrans and the territory we are living in right now is Nigeria. There is a difference between the original identity of a people and the country where they are living. So we published a disclaimer that we are not part of what they are doing because we cannot do anything that is unlawful. We are in court with Nigeria and we cannot now take the laws into our hands and that’s why we disassociated ourselves from them.
What do you think is the reason your IPOB idea is being hijacked by different people, Nnamdi Kanu in the first instance and now Asari Dokubu?
You know people say that a good product is subject to counterfeits, nobody counterfeits a bad product. They know that the product I have is a good product, they know the original vision that I have and they know it’s an excellent vision and that’s why they try to counterfeit it.
Those who believe in what I believe, we will continue with the original IPOB, the original customary government, no matter the counterfeits because in the end the original will stand.
How can your IPOB be talking about Biafra as an independent nation, yet you are seeking restructuring in Nigeria, is that not contradictory?
This is a very good question. Now, the freedom we are asking for is total freedom. Eventually we will have independent Biafra; it has to be in stages, by phases. We have conducted feasibility and viability studies of the Biafra project and we have found out that you cannot get Biafra immediately now. You can only get Biafra in phases, phase one, phase two and phase three and now phase one has been accomplished and that is the awareness creation phase. Phase two is regional autonomy, which is restructuring into regional autonomy where we will now have a regional parliament and that is Biafra. Before it is called Biafra it will first be a regional government.
Then it is the regional government that will pass the bill of referendum and it will be put to vote in a referendum for outright independence from Nigeria. It is going to be stage by stage, you cannot get it now, and anybody thinking you will get it now let him try. If you want to go to war, go and start fighting with the Nigeria government. If you want it by referendum go now and put a bill of referendum in Abuja and see if it will pass, it will not pass but if you put it in the eastern regional parliament it will pass.
So the ultimate goal of the restructuring is for the breakaway of the country into sub regions?
Let us look at it this way; the ultimate goal is to give the people the right to self-determination by referendum. For instance when we get to the regional autonomy or parliament such as the South East region, the regional government will now have the bill of referendum and the bill of referendum guarantees you the right to secede if you have 60 percent of the vote.
When you go for referendum, the whole people of south east will vote whether to remain in Nigeria or to pull out and you will see that you will find it difficult to get 60 percent because all the people in south east who leave in Lagos or Abuja will vote no, they will say we want to remain in Nigeria since we have our regional government and Biafrans in Nigeria.
This is exactly what is happening to Scotland now. Scotland has got the regional government as Scottish government but why are they not passing? They have done referendums twice and they couldn’t get 60 percent, why? Because each time they come to vote, the people of Scotland will say, ah why are we even going, we’re already on our own, we have Scottish parliament, we have Scottish government, we have Scottish police; we have everything as a government, then why are we pulling out from Britain since everywhere in Britain is our racket and so when they conduct referendum, they will fail.
The same thing will happen to Biafrans in the future. It’s not going to be easy to win in the referendum because the Biafrans living in the west, in the north, other places may say after all we’ve got the Biafra regional government in the east and so why are we pulling out and we have the whole Nigeria as our mandate. That is the beauty of democracy of choice. So for the fact that we have regional autonomy does not give automatic tickets for breakaway because we have a choice either to stay in Nigeria or to go.
Do you think that the north will agree to this restructuring since at the end of the day it may lead to disintegration of Nigeria, which the north is not inclined to?
The north does not have the power to keep us in Nigeria; the people that have power to keep us are ourselves. What are you even calling north? Because there is no more north, we have divided the north; yes we have divided the north. We created north central, that is the middle belt and they are now free from the north, they are no longer north. If you want to know, know it now that north central is no longer north, we created them in 1995. We created two imaginary geographical cardinal points called south-south and north central. In geography there is nothing like south-south or north central. In geography you have east, west, north and south.
We created those two in order to give them their own political identity so that the north will no longer be using the people of the middle belt as their errand boys to fight battles, nor will they be using the people of south-south to fight us. So how will the north stop us except if the middle belt will team up with the north and let me tell you that even in the North West, southern Kaduna is with us now; We from the north central, south east, south west and south-south, we have enough votes to say that we want restructuring or regional autonomy and the north cannot stop us.
When do you think this restructuring will come?
The senate committee is discussing it, after the hearing that took place a few weeks ago, they are now discussing devolution of powers and restructuring. You know some weeks ago President Buhari said he will never support it but he was not right because he doesn’t have the power to stop the legislature from the executive arm that he heads.
Some days ago he turned around to say he will give assent to the bill if it is passed into law. So right now the national assembly is about to pass the bill on restructuring but we are talking about restructuring along geopolitical regions and if they don’t do that the struggle will continue. So any moment from now the bill of restructuring will come to the national assembly and it will be passed because it will have no opposition because we have sufficient number of votes in the national assembly as I speak now. So I am expecting restructuring or the devolution of power to take place any moment from now.
Activist Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho has filed a suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja for the release of his aides arrested during a raid on July 1 at his residence by the Department of State Services.
The DSS had arrested 13 aides of the activist and paraded them alongside arms allegedly recovered.
Sunday Igboho’s lawyer Yomi Aliyu told PUNCH that legal action has been taken against the Federal Government.
The lawyer said Sunday Igboho’s spokesman Olayomi Koiki had issued a statement on Wednesday that the DSS did not allow lawyers to see the aides in its custody.
“We have filed an action before a Federal High Court in Abuja concerning their bail. We filed it today,” he said.
Sunday Igboho has not been publicly seen since the DSS raid. The secret police have urged him to turn himself in over the alleged arms found at his house.
The activist says the weapons were planted by the DSS.
This happened yesterday evening at DLA road Asaba as I was returning from office.
Policemen shot a young guy inside 4matic 300 car, carried away his dead body, arrested one and three ran away. They were five young guys inside the 4matic car as policemen were seen pursuing them with their Sienna car.
The guys were driving very fast along DLA road Asaba as police were seen pursuing them shooting at them, just close to falcon club junction, unfortunately, the guy driving hit a fence and the car stopped moving. The Policemen then stopped their own sienna car, opened fire on them, shot one of them and he died instantly, three of them ran away as police was approaching to them, they arrested one.
They carried the dead body of the guy they shot together with one of them alive and quickly drove away.
People gathered at the scene lamenting and crying against the killing of the young guy. People said that they were innocent as they didn’t see any gun, illegal items or country banned goods with the guys. Their car was still packed at the scene as of 5:37 pm.
A Chieftain of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Okoye Nwabuogo, has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to disqualify the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof. Charles Soludo, as flagbearer of the party in the Anambra State governorship election billed for November 6.
The Plaintiff is in the originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/596/2021, praying the court to set-aside the election and nomination of Prof. Soludo as candidate of the party.
She applied for an order restraining Soludo from parading himself as the validly or duly elected candidate of the party for the said election.
The litigant maintained that the party (APGA) failed to give statutory 21 days notice to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, before it held the special ward congress where adhoc delegates voted to nominate Soludo as governorship candidate of the party.
While urging the court to invalidate and set aside the entire primary election of the party held on June 23, the Plaintiff, prayed for an order of injunction restraining INEC from accepting the name of or recognizing Prof. Soludo as the candidate of APGA for the Anambra State gubernatorial general election.
The Plaintiff is also seeking an order of court, restraining the party from holding out or in any manner howsoever and /or accord Soludo the rights or privileges as its validly or duly elected candidate for the November 6 governorship election in the state.
A declaration that the party, is mandatorily required, given the provision of Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) to give to the 3rd defendant (INEC), the compulsory 21days statutory notice prior to the holding of the special ward congress, held on June 15, 2021, for the election of ad hoc delegates for the nomination of the its governorship candidate for the Anambra State gubernatorial election scheduled to hold on November 6. 2021.
A declaration that the election of 812 delegates as against the 978 delegates, as provided for in Article 11(5)(vii) of the APGA Constitution 2019, to be adhoc delegates, to elect the governorship candidate of the party, is illegal, unlawful, invalid, null and void.
More so, she urged the court to among other things, determine; “Whether given the clear and unambiguous provisions of Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), the 3rd Defendant can, in the light of its two separate letters dated 18th June 2021 with REF: INEC/DEPM/UPMM/1/145 and REF:INEC/DEPM/CWO/040/11/304 which disclosed that APGA (1st Defendant), failed to give it, the mandatory 21days statutory notice, prior to the holding of the special ward congress, on 15th day of June, 2021, for the election of ad hoc delegates for the nomination of the 1st Defendant’s governorship candidate for the Anambra State gubernatorial election scheduled to hold on November 6, 2021, lawfully recognize, deal with and give effect to the nomination of the 2nd Defendant through the primary election of the 1st defendant held on 23rd June, 2021 as the 1st Defendant’s candidate for the said governorship election.
“Whether given the clear provisions of Article 11(5)(vii) of the APGA Constitution 2019, which provides for the election of three delegates per ward, to be adhoc delegates, to elect the governorship candidate of the party, the party can lawfully proceed to elect only two delegates in violation of it constitution.
As well as, “Whether the primary election of the 1st Defendant held on 23rd June, 2021 for the purpose electing the 1st Defendant’s candidate for Anambra State gubernatorial general election scheduled to hold on November 6. 2021 is not invalidated by reason of the 1st Defendant’s non-compliance with the mandatory provision of Section 85(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010(as amended), and Article (5)(vii) of the APGA Constitution, 2019”.
Cited as Defendants in the matter are APGA, Prof. Soludo and the INEC.
Meantime, the court had yet to fix a date for hearing of the suit.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Scientific Equipment Development Initiative, SEDI, Enugu State, Prof. Simon Ndubuisi has been reportedly assassinated in Enugu State.
Bvi Channel 1 learnt that the Federal Government Agency Director was murdered by unkonwn gunmen along the Enugu Port-Harcourt Expressway on Wednesday.
He was being driven in his official vehicle marked “SEDI 26D 02FG”.
His police orderly was also killed by the gunmen. The fate of his driver is still unclear as of the time of filing this report.
Horrible images and video of the gruesome murder are currently in circulation.
However, the Police in Enugu State are yet to confirm the incident as of the time of filing this report.
Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI), Enugu is an institute under the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). It is located at Akwuke, Enugu South Local Government Area.
The institute is actively involved in research, development and popularization of science research results which have been of great help to the growth and development of the nation.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami has lambasted Kelechi Madu for his comments after the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.
Madu, the Minister of Justice and Solicitor-General of the Government of Alberta, Canada, attacked Malami over the repatration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader.
He called Malami a disgrace to the rule of law, and not worthy to be an officer of the court.
“He has shown himself to be a bigot who does not understand what it means to live in a pluralistic society governed by the dictates of the rule of law”, Madu’s statement read.
In a rejoinder on Wednesday, Malami called the Candaian state official ignoramus and eccentric, adding that his views are weird to the legal profession.
The AGF said it is unfortunate that Madu faulted the internationally recognized manner through which Nnamdi Kanu who jumped bail was re-arrested and brought back to face trial.
“It was abundantly clear that bench warrant was lawfully and judiciously procured through judicial process by a competent court of law, whose bail condition Nnamdi Kanu breached with impunity.
“There was no illegality in the entire process and the question of illegality does not even arise. It is a common principle of the law that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.”
Malami said Kanu has enjoyed representation by counsel of his choice and was never denied a right of choice of counsel or recourse to one, even when he symbolizes a proscribed association (IPOB).
“Where was the so-called Madu when Nnamdi Kanu was inciting violence against the country? Why, as a lawyer, would Madu support a fugitive who jumped bail and accused of terrorism and treasonable felony? What stopped Madu from voicing out dissent on the atrocities of Kanu and their group?
“It is important to educate the likes of Keleche Madu that both Nigeria (his country of birth) and Canada (where he claims to be practicing law) are signatories to the Multinational Treaty Agreement where, among others, fugitive fleeing justice in nations with similar agreement could be brought back to face justice.
“It is a pity that as a Solicitor General of a province, Madu failed to keep himself acquainted with the provisions of general laws of the country where he stays as well as international laws.
“We wish to draw the attention of Madu to the provisions of Consolidated Act Criminal Code under the Canadian Law R.S., C 1985, c. C-46:1-2 on Treason and other Offences vis:
“46(1) Every one commits high treason who, in Canada: (a) Kills or attempts to kill Her Majesty or does her any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, maims or wounds her, or imprisons or restrains her,
(b) Levels war against Canada or does any act thereto; or
(C) Assist an enemy at war with Canada or any armed forces against whom Canadian Forces are engaged in hostilities, whether or not a state of war exists between Canada and the country whose forces they are.
46(2) Every one commits treason who, in Canada (a) Use force or violence for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Canada or a province;
(b) Without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of defence of Canada;
(c) Conspires with any person to commit high treason or do anything mentioned in paragraph;
(d ) Forms an intention to do anything that is high treason or that is mentioned in paragraph;
(e) Conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) or forms an intention to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) and manifests intention by and overt act.”
Malami further derided Madu, saying “empty vessel makes loudest noise.
“We advise the so-called “learned man” to shelve his arrogance and learn to study the law books before opening his mouth to disgrace himself before the right thinking members of the society thereby attracting to himself criticism that may propel doubt about his suitability for the job he claims to be doing now, after moving out of his country of origin in which he fails to excel,” the reply concluded.
The greatest thing Nigerians accomplished in the last thirty years was electing Muhammadu Buhari as president. If he had lived and died without being president, no one would push back when politicians fall over themselves to deliver tributes and call him the greatest president that Nigeria never had.
After six years of Buhari’s administration and with only two more years to go, all is settled about the rhymes and stanzas of Buhari’s elegy. Some thirty years from now, people will stone anyone who attaches “greatest ” to any tribute at Buhari’s funeral.
You may ask if anything is worth the cost of having Buhari as president?
Before you do, there is another reason why his election was the greatest accomplishment of the Nigerian electorate in the last 30 years. If Buhari had not been president, if his incompetence had not been exposed to the uninitiated, Nigeria would have continued its zigzag path. The one-step-forward, two-steps-backwards trajectory would have continued unabated.
Thus, Buhari helped the unrestructured Nigeria to confront its foreseeable future. That is Buhari’s first legacy.
Here is Buhari’s second legacy: It may not be clear yet to the Fulani people, but Buhari’s presidency has damaged them more than any other group in Nigeria. Buhari’s inability to have an objective view of what leadership entails in a diverse country like Nigeria and his propensity to side with his Fulani people even when every donkey could see the bias undermined the Fulani deeply. He diminished whatever legitimate claim they have in what is clearly a fast-moving degenerative Nigeria’s structural carnage. The Fulani were better off in Nigeria six years ago than they are today. That is Muhammadu Buhari’s second legacy.
In the context of Nigeria’s nationhood, Buhari’s second coming was a necessary evil: He came, he saw, and he hastened its ruination for everyone.
If Buhari had not been president, Nigeria would have been ‘managing.’ The Peoples Democratic Party of Goodluck Jonathan and Sambo Dasuki and Diezani Allison-Madueke would have been paying Dangote to rob Otedola, even as the country continued the slide down the valley of death. Buhari accelerated the collapse by taking the country on a bungee jump down the deepest part of the valley using a frayed rope.
The rope is breaking. Anyone with functioning ears can hear the splitting threads from miles away. High above the deepest part of the valley, Nigeria barely holds on to Buhari’s back. Two things will happen: Either Nigeria loses its grip on Buhari’s back and falls into the valley of death, or the rope rips and both Nigeria and Buhari plunge down the valley. Either way, death is the expected end.
The only miracle on the horizon is to get Nigeria to a place where it cannot fight the Igbo and the Yoruba nations simultaneously.
In a one-on-one fight, Nigeria may defeat any of its components. Nigeria may defeat the Igbo. Nigeria may run over the Yoruba. Nigeria may crush the Ijaw, the Ibibio, the Tiv, the Ijaw, the Kanuri, the Fulani, the Bachama, the Idoma, the Urhobo, etc. Nigeria cannot defeat the Igbo and the Yoruba at the same time. In a fight between Nigeria on one side and an Igbo-Yoruba alliance on the other, many ethnic minority groups will take the side of the alliance.
Whether the fight is in the physical or spiritual realm, whether it is in the democratic realm or the ideological realm, Nigeria has no chance of winning a fight against the combined forces of the Igbo and the Yoruba. For a table with three legs, one leg has no chance of keeping the table standing when the other two legs take a knee. The Igbo and Yoruba need to take a combined knee. That is the ultimate way to shake the table called Nigeria.
Nigeria needs to get to a point where it faces the prospect of fighting a united Igbo and Yoruba power. It needs to happen now. That reality needs to be clear, concrete, and ironclad. It is the only magic wand that can save Nigeria.
Is it easy to achieve? No. Is it possible? Yes.
What will it take to get Nigeria to that place where it risks fighting the Igbo and the Yoruba simultaneously?
The way to achieve this is for the Igbo and the Yoruba to embrace Thomas Jefferson’s greatest philosophy. The man who drafted the U.S. Declaration of Independence said, “I admire the dreams of the future more than the history of the past.”
The Igbo and the Yoruba must admire the dreams of the future more than the history of the past. They must do it not just for their children’s children but also for all those children from East to West, North to South, trapped in prisons of mediocrity and death, which are the only gift of an unfair, unjust, and dysfunctional Nigeria.
The Igbo and the Yoruba owe this to future generations of the people currently trapped in Nigeria. It is their responsibility. Posterity will blame the Igbo and the Yoruba in Nigeria if they fail to catch the wave. Thanks to Buhari’s misadventures, the awareness of today is total and overwhelming. Severe penalties await the Igbo and the Yoruba if they fail to act now and free unborn generations from the manacles of Muhammadu Buhari’s.
Professor Akinyemi Onigbinde
Snr Research Fellow
Institute of African Studies
University of Ghana
Accra, Ghana
Before Nnamdi Kanu was arrested, I did not know who he was. I just defended his right to freedom of expression and association. Various Igbo leaders called me privately to thank me. It would be wrong to mention their names, because of the challenges of the moment.
When Kanu was rearrested, I called a British government official and got the facts. I was the first (not one of the first. The first) to reveal that he was arrested in Kenya, and not in The UK. After I released this information, the media ran with it.
Yesterday, a former Presidential candidate sent me a tape of Nnamdi Kanu dissolving the UK branch of IPOB and tongue lashing the members of IPOB UK. He told them to hand over IPOB money in their possession. He then said that he suspected that the British Secret service was running IPOB UK.
I was shocked and refused to believe what I heard, until this ex Presidential candidate from the South pointed me to an IPOB channel where this same audio was broadcast.
So I published it on my page. I did not add or edit or alter the voice. I released it as is.
Given that that broadcast was released earlier this year (I was told it was first broadcast in March if 2021, though I am not 100% sure) and Nnamdi Kanu was arrested so soon after (in June), I asked if that altercation could have led to Kanu being betrayed by his members in the UK.
The result was that various persons, who claimed to be members of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra descended on my page and insulted me, attacked me and accused me of collecting money from Buhari. (Would Buhari even give me money? If Buhari will give me anything, it is more likely to be a letter bomb).
They said Nnamdi Kanu can insult anyone he liked and I should leave him alone.
A certain Northerner, who has been on my page attacking me for what he had previously called my “love for the Igbo”, now asked a question. He said ‘so you people have forgotten when this man was fighting for you so soon’?
And so I went into deep thought.
If Nnamdi Kanu eventually gets Biafra and I am a minority in that Biafra, what would be my fate? Would I be able to express myself? Would I have the freedoms for which I myself have been fighting for Nnamdi Kanu to get for the last five years? Would I be able to hold sensitive positions?
I am not Yoruba, but because of me, these members of IPOB insulted the Yoruba (why do people always think I am Yoruba?). I was called ‘ewu Yoruba’. Somebody even threatened to kill me if I ever stepped into Onitsha (the same Onitsha where I donated money and raised millions for victims of the 2019 Onitsha Market Fire?).
These people in their hundreds descended on me with a consistent refrain, tthat Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is the supreme leader of the Igbos and he could insult his members if he chose and no one could question him.
And that prompted a paradigm shift in my consciousness. If you have been following the dailies, you would have read one or two stories planted by the Buhari administration in the papers of how they have been tracing Kanu and monitoring his movements for two years.
The stories claimed that they were able to get to him through members of the Eastern Security Network that they had captured. Then a few days ago, they released a video testimony of one captured ESN member, by name Emeoyiri Uzorma Benjamin, that has now gone viral, in which the young man claimed that Kanu had given them instructions to kill policemen and soldiers, as well as their fellow Igbos.
He sensationally claimed that Kanu instructed them to bury one of his lieutenants, Nwaokike Kayinayo Andy, AKA Ikonso with 2000 human heads. Even more sensationally, he alleged that Mr. Kanu gave directives to them to kill young girls, who they used for fetish charms.
Now, it is not possible to say it this fellow is telling the truth, or half truths or lies. However, from his testimony, or account of the inside workings of IPOB/ESN, and the broadcasts which I listened to, and which is also available on some IPOB social media accounts, we see that Nnamdi Kanu had almost total authority over IPOB.
All this time, I was thinking that, though Nnamdi Kanu showed extreme indiscretion by going to a country like Kenya, which is notorious for extrajudicially extraditing people to regimes seeking them (the Turkish government did exactly the same thing the Nigerian government did with Kanu to Selahaddin Gulen, a Turkish dissident that was captured by Turkey’s intelligence from Nairobi. In that instance, Kenya first denied complicity, then promised to investigate the event. It happened in 2016. Kenya is still ‘investigating’ that event), that he nevertheless must have been betrayed by someone in his organisation, who tipped the Nigerian intelligence agencies that Kanu was headed to Kenya.
But my experience with Mr. Kanu’s supporters made me have a rethink. With the way they treat him as though he is infallible, could it not be more likely that there was nobody within the organisation bold enough to advise Mr. Kanu not to travel to Kenya, because to do so, or to counter him in any way, would have brought upon such a person weighty consequences.
And then I began thinking about the ‘dot in a circle’ statement by General Buhari. I had criticised Buhari for making that comment. It is most irresponsible of him to have described the Igbo as such. It showed his malevolent mindset towards some citizens of his own country, and he should apologise.
However, on further introspection, I began to cast my mind to statements Nnamdi Kanu had made in his many broadcasts which I only watched just yesterday.[/color]
[b]He unacceptably insults Black people as being less intelligent than other races (how can a Black person say such things? Is that not self hatred?). He attacks Yoruba churches, pastors and media (what is a Yoruba church? Honestly, I had never heard of a Yoruba church until I heard that word from Kanu. I thought all churches belonged to God through Christ).
You can imagine if you are Yoruba and sympathetic to the plight of the Igbo, and you listen to all the bile from Kanu about your ethnic nationality, how would you look if you continue to defend him to your kinsmen?
Then you listen to some of the even more outrageous things he has said about Northerners (Igbos, your enemy is Buhari. Your enemies are not the Hausa or Fulani. Don’t mix up the two). I cannot even repeat them here.
Looking back to those broadcasts, it looks to me that it is Nnamdi Kanu himself who made IPOB (not the Igbos as Buhari claims) a dot in a circle.
He made no attempts to be persuasive. He did not even try to win hearts. He made no pretence of anything but contempt to anyone who was not part of his Biafra. Even though I had always thought that Odili, Amaechi and Wike and their people in Rivers state are Igbos, I now understand, but do not agree with Wike’s claims that they are not Igbos.
Who would want to be a minority in a country ruled by Kanu? Tufiakwa! You speak your mind and you may be shot on the spot!
To be honest, I had never listened to these broadcasts by Nnamdi Kanu until they were brought to my attention by this Southern Presidential candidate. I was clueless about their existence. In fact, I felt a bit naive. I felt like a fool!
Anyone who has been following me for the last six years would have known how much of my time and money I have devoted to defending, advocating for and promoting the cause of the Igbos.
However, having watched for the first time these videos where Nnamdi Kanu called Black people wicked (I am Black, but I don’t think I am wicked), and where he described Igbos who refuse to support IPOB as evil, I am flummoxed!
However, the one that shocked me the most was his statement that (and this is an exact quote), “If you are attending a Yoruba church, you should be ashamed of yourself. Anyone who attends a church headed by a Yoruba pastor is an idiot. A complete fool. An slowpoke. I have no time for them. They are worse than Boko Haram. They are very, very foolish. If your pastor is Yoruba, you are not fit to be a human being.”
And the funniest thing is that the pastor who provoked him into making that statement is from Auchi. He is not even Yoruba. No wonder they think I am Yoruba. To these lot, anyone Southerner West of the Niger is Yoruba. They have a majority mindset that is not minority friendly AT ALL.
Even more disturbing is that this Auchi pastor, who Nnamdi Kanu calls Yoruba, and used to generalise all Yoruba pastors, was summoned by DSS in December of 2016, and asked to explain why he did a video calling for Kanu’s release. Who fights those who fights for them?
How did I miss these broadcasts? Have I been too focused on Buhari to the extent that I was blindsided? Is this the fellow I have been defending?
I am a minority. My late father was a minority. He went to Sokoto as a Youth Corp Member in 1975, and became Nigeria’s youngest Director of Public Prosecution and Nigeria’s youngest judge (at the time), and was elevated to the Court of Appeal, all from old Sokoto. Would that be possible in Kanu’s Biafra?
And when he was interviewed in 2020 by Dr. Damages (I did not even know until the same Southern former Presidential candidate sent me the video), and given an opportunity to denounce his previous statements against the Yoruba, Nnamdi Kanu doubled down on it and said as follows:
*“Most of the difficulties we have been having have always come from these Yoruba pastors.”*
Then he went on to say in that same 2020 interview as follows:
*“Yoruba Pentecostalism is the reason why Fulanis are invading us today.”*
Where is the connection between Pentecostal churches and killer herdsmen?
I was stunned. This video was recorded last year. How come I never saw it. I checked on YouTube and only 27,000 people had seen it.
How can I be against Isa Pantami for saying “We are all happy whenever unbelievers are being killed” and then tolerate these statements from Nnamdi Kanu?
If I do, it will make me a hypocrite. And while I mistakenly may sometimes be hypocritical, I will not be deliberately hypocritical.
Everything I have said here is the truth. It is on video and audio. If you do not like what I have written, then jejely unfollow me. We are obviously not on the same wavelength and I am not about to change in order to make you like me.
