A Federal High Court, sitting in Awka, Anambra State and presided over by Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, has declined an application to stop Prof. Chukwuma Soludo as the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the November 6 poll in the state.
The court dismissed the application of an order of mandamus filed by a factional leader of APGA, Chief Edozie Njoku.
Njoku was seeking the court to recognise him as the National Chairman of APGA so as to authorise his faction to conduct the governorship primary election to produce the party’s candidate in the poll.
Njoku had through his lawyer, Sopulu Ezeonwuka, approached the court vide Suit No. FHC/AWK/CS/35/2021 praying the court to inter alia, recognize him (Chief Edozie Njoku) as the National Chairman of APGA and to compel him to conduct primary election on behalf of APGA.
But in a ruling on Thursday, the court held that the reliefs sought by the applicant were substantially the same as the reliefs sought in the substantive suit.
The court ruled that granting such application would prejudice the hearing of the substantive suit before the court.
The factional APGA group had on Tuesday held a primary election of the party at Finotel Hotel, Awka, amidst tight security where Chief Edozie Njoku emerged as the governorship candidate of the party.
The mainstream APGA led by Chief Victor Oye on July 26 in a primary election held at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women’s Development Centre, elected Soludo as the candidate of the party in the November 6 poll.
Thirty-six (36) hours after Nnamdi Kanu was seized by security agents and brought back to Nigeria, and 24 hours after he appeared before a Federal High Court in Nigeria, not even one single international news media has mentioned his arrest or appearance in court. Are you not surprised for a man so well-supported by the world?
Where are his contacts in Israel, European Union, United States, United Nations; all those people and groups that promised him Biafra: How come that none of them has noticed that he was arrested by the Nigerian government? Think, if you have brains. Even as Ojukwu was about to get into war in 1967, the international press was already talking about it. Nnamdi Kanu called Ojukwu Biafra the Class of 1967 and called IPOB Biafra the Class of 2021. He compared himself to Ojukwu. But how come that only Nigerian media is reporting his capture? No one else knows him.
The problem is not really Nnamdi Kanu. The problem are the thousands and millions of people who followed him and believed him. They believed every lie he told them. They believed that Donald Trump promised Kanu Biafra. They believed that international security forces were following him to protect him. They believed that Israel recognized him. They believed that the United Nations was supporting him. That is the problem – that there are so many foolish people in the land.
When I merely expressed a view of caution, they attacked me. They called me unprintable names. They called me an ex-convict and said I should go back to prison. Where are they now? Since they liked me to go to prison because I dared to raise issues about their leaders, they must be rejoicing now that their leader is back in detention and will not come out in the next ten years unless he begs Ohaneze and the same Governors he insulted.
I said we are not ready for Biafra. And many did not understand me. I said that even if you gave us Biafra, we will not know how to manage it. And many thought i was joking. When I saw the mentality of those who believed Kanu, I knew that we are in trouble. The main difference between the Igbos and the rest of the country is that in Igboland, the uneducated rule. In Igboland, the uneducated think that the educated should listen to them and follow them. Every tribe has educated and uneducated people. The difference is that in other ethnic groups, the educated ones lead. But in Igboland, the uneducated ones want to lead. That is why even though the Igbos have the greatest number of educated people, they end up with the most uninformed choices because the uneducated Igbos want to lead. Otherwise, nobody who understands international system would believe Nnamdi Kanu’s lies. No educated person would believe that President Buhari died and a Sudaneze clone is ruling Nigeria in his stead and only Nnamdi Kanu, the Igbo people’s prophet, would know that in the whole world.
Somebody asked me tonight: What will the followers of Nnamdi Kanu do? I told him that they are like lost sheep in the wilderness without a shepherd. His followers will disintegrate. They needed a radio operator based in UK to function. Nnamdi Kanu’s Biafra was solely an online country. Even his ESN was an online imaginary army. The biggest blow is to switch off that radio. Once he was not able to address them on that radio, they are lost. What else will bring them together. They needed the radio. They needed Nnamdi Kanu who would switch from a priest to revolutionary, to a war leader, to all manner of things. Nothing is left now. His followers know that if they try to run a radio like he did, they may face the same consequences.
Some people say I am fighting a fellow Igbo. I am only educating the fools who followed that blind cause. I am helping them before they hurt themselves more. They have hurt Igbo interest enough. I believe that with IPOB contained, the Igbos can now come together to pursue the best interest of Ndigbo. The IPOB distractions and disruption have caused enough harm to the Igbos. Hopefully, we can now reorient the Igbo youths and get more of them to use their heads in the future.
Valentine Ozigbo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag-bearer for the 2021 Anambra governorship election, has been presented with his certificate of return after winning the party’s primary election held on Saturday, June 26, 2021.
Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the PDP, presented the certificate to Ozigbo on Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at the National Headquarters of the PDP at Wadata House, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
Ozigbo, who is the immediate past President and Group CEO of Transcorp Plc, emerged as the party’s candidate for the November 6 election after polling the majority of the votes at the party primary held at the Prof Dora Akunyili Women Development Center on June 26, 2021.
At the brief ceremony, Prince Secondus applauded the peaceful conduct of the June 26 guber primary of the party describing it as “one of the most peaceful processes in the history of the party”.
In his address, Ozigbo expressed gratitude to the leadership of the PDP for prioritising the unity of the party and its chances at the general election. He urged other aspirants and other stakeholders of the party to put the past behind and work together with him to ensure victory for the PDP over the incumbent All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
“Today, I stand before you to express my gratitude. When I started this journey, I said to everybody who cared to listen that I am on this journey because I believe in our party,” Ozigbo said.
“We have seen a commendable change in the leadership in the most recent years. I was fascinated by the remarkable shift we have witnessed under the leadership of Prince Uche Secondus.
“The commendable leadership also extends to the state level. His Excellency Peter Obi, other leaders and BOT members who have shown great leadership, I thank them,” he added.
The business mogul also commended the electoral process that produced him as the candidate of the PDP. He appreciated Philip Shaibu, the Deputy Governor of Edo State and the entire electoral panel for their professionalism.
“We eventually went through the primary and by any measure, it was one of the most transparent and most peaceful. On that note, I want to appreciate the panel that conducted the primary, especially the Deputy Governor of Edo State for the good work.
“I am grateful for their fairness because it guaranteed that someone like me would emerge.
“I’m proud to tell you that I emerged through a free and fair process, compared to what is happening in other parties like APGA and APC,” Ozigbo declared.
Mr Ozigbo issued a clarion call to the PDP saying that it is “not yet celebration time”. He called for party unity and consolidation ahead of the November election.
“So we are here not only to celebrate the certificate of return. This is a call to action, it’s not yet celebration time. On November 6, we go to the polls and I guarantee you that for the first time in 16 years, PDP will take Anambra State,” Ozigbo said with confidence.
“I receive this certificate, fully aware of the responsibilities that come with it. We are confident that no matter how formidable our opponents may appear, we will emerge victorious in the end.
“You have in me, a flag-bearer that represents the hopes and aspirants of the youth. You have that the women of Anambra have endorsed and blessed.
“I had the privilege of canvassing, interfacing, and campaigning across the length and breadth of Anambra State interacting with our people at the grassroots. I know them, I know what they want, and I know the wide acceptability of my candidacy. I am confident we will win this election,” Ozigbo said.
He was accompanied to the event by the Hon. Val Ayika, the Director of Strategy and Media of the VCO Campaign Organisation, Chief Okey Ezibe, Mr Benji Uba, Chuma Nzeribe, a former aspirant, Dr Harry Oranezi, Chief Ugochukwu Okeke, and Dr Alex Obiogbolu, a former governorship candidate.
Valentine Ozigbo is one of Africa’s biggest sports promoters, being the Chairman of Feet ‘N’ Tricks International the exclusive hosts of the Nigerian Freestyle Football Championship and the African Freestyle Football Championship. He is also one of Nigeria’s most recognisable philanthropists.
Religion is a private business, but when infiltrated into the public space in any form kills, it divides and separates peoples in perpetuity, has led to almost everlasting wars in many societies as it may in Nigeria, it drowns wise opinions and creativity, creates enmities, anathematizations and contempts between brothers and sisters, and makes people willing tools in service to alien interests – all in the purported name of a God seated elsewhere and looking down at the stupidity of poor mortal man!
The Yoruba have conquered these divisive evils of religionism from top down to the family level, the Fulani did so, and after centuries of meaningless denominational and other religious wars the Europeans earlier did by entrenching the SECULAR STATE!
All these wise nations make religions and denominations serve their peoples, and the Igbo nation should not be different by making it the other way round, in belief that there is wisdom in suicide. The Caliphate islamism being sustained and promoted in Nigeria as an instrument of foreign-coalesced pan-Fulani domestic imperialism cannot be defeated and the people set free except by a de facto, not merely de jure secular state, which only a republican-minded people can promote.
The Igbo are at least one of the best known of such people. Such a modern democratic secular state is the only thing that can save the Igbo from extinction wherever they are in the world, for it is the universal principle that other nations understand and will easily support.
Anambra state, the very place that Christianity was first planted on Igbo soil should lead in this Revolution; otherwise, the various denominations should continue going “stealthily” and separately to the Caliphate to plead their candidates being the preferred stooge as “President of Nigeria”.
No one should pretend that people do not know the role that “Christians” alias Men of God played in producing our present predicament. No Anambrarian directly or indirectly promoted to serve any religious or denominational cause, or whose strength emanates from his worship instead of his manifesto, is qualified to be elected Governor. Ditto other states. This is the answer or one of the answers to the “help” that the distinguished Attorney@Law is requesting from other Igbo peoples/observers over Anambra politics, and this I believe other civilized peoples would have nothing against.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship primary elections which held on June 26, 2021, has been nullified by the Independent National Electoral Commission, IgbereTV reports.
According to the monitoring team for the election, it has been confirmed that the election that produced Andy Ubah as its winner is nonexistent as no elections held in any of the wards all around the state.
IGBERE TV recalls that the Senator who represented Anambra South in the 7th and 8th Senate, Dr Emmanuel Nnamdi Uba, popularly known as Andy Uba had been declared the winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election, held on Saturday, June 26, 2021.
The declaration was made by the Chairman, Anambra State APC Primary Election Committee, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State.
Andy Uba scored 230,201 out of 348,490 accredited voters.
But NEC disclosed on Wednesday, reported that the June 26 APC governorship primary in the Anambra state did not hold.
The commission said that in all the 326 electoral Wards of the state-monitored, that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility to conduct the primary.
The commission said the electoral officials and materials were not available at the voting centres for the APC governorship primary scheduled for 26 June 2021 in Anambra state, up to 5;30pm when INEC monitors withdrew from the field.
The commission’s monitors did not witness accreditation, voting, counting of votes, collation or declaration of results at the voting centres and collation centres up till 5:30pm when the monitors were recalled.
Recall that 11 of the 14 governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Anambra have said the June 26 governorship primary in the state did not hold.
Dr George Muoghalu, the spokesperson for the aspirants, made the position of the group known in a press conference on Saturday in Awka.
Muoghalu said that in all the 326 electoral Wards of the state, people came out, but were disappointed, saying that none of the APC team saddled with the responsibility to conduct the primary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials was seen.
Muoghalu, the Managing Director of National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and one of the aspirants, said anybody who claimed that there was primary is fraudulent and did not wish APC well in the November 6 election.
Paul Orajiaka and Edozie Madu, both aspirants, corroborated the position of Muoghalu and warned that the era when one man would come up with fake figure to claim victory is over.
The aspirants, however, appealed to the party leadership to come up with a fresh date for the Anambra primary to ensure that the party beat the deadline in the Electoral Act.
Other aspirants at the event were Johnbosco Onunkwo, Ben Etiaba, Amobi Nwaokafor, Chidozie Nwankwo, Geoffo Onyjegbu, Azuka Okwuosa, among others.
The family of Nnamdi Kanu has narrated how the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) was ‘unlawfully’ arrested in Kenya.
The Nigerian government had on Tuesday announced Kanu’s arrest and extradition to Nigeria to continue to face trial.
He was subsequently arraigned with a blindfold before Binta Nyako, a Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Kanu is facing charges bordering on treasonable felony instituted against him at the court in response to years of campaign for the independent Republic of Biafra through IPOB.
He was granted bail in April 2017 for health reasons but skipped bail after flouting some of the conditions given to him by the court.
In a statement on Wednesday, Nnamdi Kanu’s younger brother, Emmanuel Kanu said he was unlawfully arrested in Kenya, detained and was subsequently extracted from the country to Nigeria where he is now detained.
He said, “My brother Nnamdi Kanu demands the right to self-determination for Biafra. Self-determination is the right tthat underpins the United Nations.“Because Biafrans support Nnamdi Kanu’s call for Biafran self-determination, my brother has now been subjected to the most serious violations of international law.
“Whilst visiting Kenya, Nnamdi Kanu was detained and handed over to the Nigerian authorities who then flew him to Nigeria.
“My brother has been subjected to extraordinary rendition by Kenya and Nigeria. They have violated the most basic principles of the rule of law. Extraordinary rendition is one of the most serious crimes states can commit. Both Nigeria and Kenya must be held to account. I demand justice for my brother, Nnamdi Kanu.”
“Nnamdi Kanu holds both British and Nigerian citizenship. Nnamdi Kanu is Biafran, not Nigerian. He has rejected his Nigerian citizenship.“The British High Commission in Nigeria must insist upon my brother’s immediate release. They must guarantee his safety and security. Nnamdi Kanu must be returned home to the UK to his wife and his sons who live here. The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, must make clear to the Nigerian authorities that they will not tolerate the unlawful detention of British citizens and that the UK Government condemns the Nigerians and Kenyans for undermining the rule of law. Foreign Secretary Raab must be clear.
“There will be consequences for those who resort to extraordinary rendition. The British Government must insist upon justice for Nnamdi Kanu,” he added.
On Tuesday, it was reported that Kanu was extradited from an African country.
“He was not arrested in London or anywhere in the United Kingdom. Diplomats confirmed that Kanu was picked up somewhere in Africa. The family and IPOB are very unhappy. Apparently, they have known about the trailing and arrest for some time,” he had said
Kanu Was Arrested On Sat Night, June 26, 2021:* The Leader of IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu was arrested on the Sat night of June 26 2021 in Kenya, a member of the African Union. He had traveled to Israel, having transited from Germany to Israel before heading to Kenya, where he was intercepted on Saturday night, 26th June 2021. He appeared to have been trapped by some persons of his own tribal stock over some lingering issues. His arrest was initially taken to be ‘a minor immigration issue’, which later turned out to be a clear act of ‘strawmen’ and subsequently attracted the involvement of the Nigerian diplomatic officials and security attachés at Nairobi, the country’s capital. He was later on Sunday, 27th June 2021 handed over to Nigerian security attaches and diplomatic officials after providing paper evidence that ‘he is being wanted in Nigeria for continuation of his trial where he jumped bail’ and escaped ‘from judicial justice’.
Worries Over Kanu’s Safety In Custody And Hateful/Selective Law Enforcement:* The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law is not worried over the recent arrest and bringing back of the IPOB Leader, but we are deeply concerned over his safety, healthcare and upkeep in the custody of the country’s Spy Police where he may likely remain throughout his trial period. The Nigerian Government also deserves to be ‘commended’ for not bringing the IPOB Leader in ‘Body Bag’. In other words, we are happy that the Nigerian Government did not ‘kill him extra-judicially on transit and falsely labeled’ the circumstances of his death, a notorious practice that has become the Government’s modus operandi in recent times. Intersociety has remained opposed to all forms of offensive violence and a stickler of pacifism. As an apostle of ‘positive peace’ or absence of structural, cultural and physical violence’, we challenge the Nigerian Government and aggrieved non state actors to eschew violence and embrace dialogue and reconciliation. To ensure this, the Nigerian Government must ensure the round-the-clock safety and welfare of the IPOB leader in its custody as it will be more catastrophically untamed should anything untoward happens to him. The Government should consider granting him and his group amnesty including withdrawal of all charges against him and his members, same way the Government has been treating the “repentant Boko Haram and Banditry Jihadists” as well as un-tagging of IPOB as ‘a terror group’.
No Fanfare Over Kanu’s Arrest At International Borders:* It is important to point out that the across border arrest of the IPOB Leader is part of the criminal justice administration and law enforcement applicable globally covering crimes of ‘mala inse’ and ‘mala prohibita’. While ‘mala inse’ represents crimes with universal application or enforcement; ‘mala prohibita’ represents crimes to the extent that they are recognized, defined and enforced by a particular country or jurisdiction. In the application or enforcement of the two crimes anywhere in the world, if a national or international citizen is standing trial under presumption of innocence until found judicially guilty and he or she is reported to have fled the jurisdiction under which he or she was standing trial, it is allowed under the international law and through legitimate diplomatic means to use non lethal measures to bring him or her back to face and complete his or her trial. Exception to this rule is where he or she is running away from legitimate state persecution including attempts on his or her life and grave infringement on his or her other fundamental liberties. Under this, he or she is expected to be protected by the country that offers him or her temporary and protective shelter; otherwise he or she can be arrested and sent back to his or her country for continuation of the trial. Therefore, it is on record that the IPOB Leader did not flee Nigeria out of his own freewill in September 2017 but he escaped from being assassinated by the security forces of the Federal Government of Nigeria. The Government’s ‘defense’ of Kanu breaching his court bail conditions or inciting his followers against the Nigerian Government as reasons for wanting to kill him extra-judicially did not hold water. This is more so when the same Government could have made a legitimate case before the trial Court for the revocation of his bail conditions, if truly found to have been breach.
Principal Officers: Emeka Umeagbalasi, Obianuju Igboeli, Esq. and Chidimma Udegbunam, Esq.
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has urged caution and strict adherence to the rule of law in the handling of the Mazi Nnamdi Kanu issue by the federal government.
The Senator in a statement released by his Media Adviser, Uchenna Awom in Abuja on Wednesday, also advised the federal government to be guided by the provisions of Section 31 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights as it detains and re-arraign Mazi Kanu in court for the continuation of his trial.
The relevant section and charter he said presupposes that the detainee should be humanely treated while in the custody of the state.
“What it means is that it is the duty of the government in this instance to protect him and ensure the respect of his fundamental human rights while his trial lasts. For now, it is trite law, that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty”, Abaribe said.
However, the Minority Leader called for calm saying that the recent events presents ample opportunity for dialogue and for the federal government to address the contending issues that seems to challenge the peace and unity of the country.
