The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has pledged the support and goodwill of the National Assembly of Nigeria to the International Criminal Court, ICC, in its efforts to check crimes against humanity and ensure justice for the victims.
He made the pledge when he received the President of the Court, His Excellency, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, who paid him a visit in Abuja on Thursday.
Ekweremadu, who described the mandate of the Court as “very critical to a peaceful and stable world devoid of oppression and aggression”, said Nigerians and Africans were proud of Judge the jurist’s recent emergence as the President of the Court.
He said: “As somebody coming from Africa, I think that you are in a better position to understand the issues around the mandate you because a lot of these atrocities have been recorded in Africa in forms of senseless mass killings and related atrocities.
“For us as a civilized people, we believe that human life is very precious. That is why the right to life is the first right in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria and I think that is the same with modern constitutions the world over.
“So anything that has to do with killings of people and any kind of oppression that gives less meaning to human life must be condemned.
“So, ICC has the full support of the National Assembly of Nigeria in your efforts and that of the global community to end genocides, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. You have our support in your efforts to help the victims of such atrocities find justice.
“If there is anything we need to do as a parliament in terms of ratification of treaties and protocols as well as advocacy that will advance the work of the ICC, we will be very happy to do so”.
On his part, Judge Eboe-Osuji said the purpose of his visit was to express his gratitude to Nigeria for supporting the ICC and its mandate, saying that the “idea of the rule of law must continue and there must be accountability for violations of international criminal laws”.
“If you look around the world, the concerns of accountability continue and one would expect that Nigeria would stand up against such continuation of atrocious conducts that should be prosecuted.
“Crimes and conducts that shock the conscience of humanity cannot go without questions; without somebody being held accountable to them. That is what the ICC is about”, he said.
In a press release issued after an extensive meeting organised by a coalition of 24 Pro Biafran groups,the Coalition stated why they have taken a far reaching decision to boycott Late Gen Achuzia Burial.The Statement reads in full ‘We have observed the position of the family of Late Biafran General J.O.G Achuzia, in which they categorically banned Pro-Biafran Groups from participating in the burial .We Biafrans frown at such a reprehensible stance of the family and without fear of contradiction maintain that it’s a shame that such a position was taken in the burial of a great Biafran-who lived all his life defending Biafra and Biafrans.bv In as much as Achuzia may have had a great many laurels to his name, he was best known for defending Biafra and all it stands for. He was a warrior of the Biafran war and Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Elders of the remnants of the Biafra territory, and remained in active service even in old age till death. We received with rude shock the position of the family and see it as a great insult to the collective intelligence of all Biafrans, especially war veterans and not just Biafrans, but every right thinking people in the world. It is an insult on late Achuzia who have also attended several Biafracentric burials in his lifetime and also wished to be buried as a Biafran. It is on record that our late leader had specifically stated during his lifetime, that three categories of people should be allowed to bury him, including Pro-Biafran groups.
Therefore, the position of the family goes contrary to the wishes of their father and as such, could attract curses upon those who have thwarted the last wishes of “Air Raid”. We have waited patiently for a possible change of heart by the family, but they have vehemently decided to stand against the wishes of their late father for reasons best known to them.Consequently, we state here, without fear of contradiction, that we will stay away from the said burial and allow the family do whatever they deem fit. Like the Pontius Pilate, we are washing our hands from this calamitous act perpetrated by Late Achuzia’s’s family’
The statement was signed by Uchenna Madu of Massob and Okey Orji of EPC.
Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) in conjunction with Asaba Development Union (ADU) will host friends, families and well wishers at Asaba in a Memorial Service for the late Biafran soldier and Igbo leader, Col Joseph Achuzia.
The programme, tagged ‘Night of Tributes’ will take place on Thursday 12th of April, 2018, at the Main Hall of Grand Hotel, Asaba Delta State.
The programme is jointly sponsored by Asaba Development Union (ADU) and Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF).
It is billed to hold between 11 am and 1pm prompt.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement is utterly dismayed by the self-seeking and vainglorious declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari to rerun for the office of the Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria in 2019.
This laughable declaration reeks of the unapologetic demeanour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their leader, President Muhammadu Buhari despite monumental failure. Even more, it has become obvious that there are more sycophants around President Buhari than truth-sayers.
At a time when the unemployment rate is pegged at 18.8%; when Nigerians are heartbreakingly dying in their thousands in the face of insurgency and unrest; when the freefalling of the economy is making life precariously uncomfortable for the common people, the least the President Buhari’s administration could do is resign honorably. However, President Buhari and the bootlickers around him have failed to admit that leadership is not a game of grandstanding but an undertaking for solving problems.
Obviously, the plan of president Buhari and his political party is to irredeemably ruin Nigeria and further subject Nigerians to a life of hardship and innumerable crises. By failing to competently resolve the Boko Haram Insurgency, the Fulani Herdsmen crisis, the senseless kidnapping of innocent citizens, the unending economic misadventure, among other national tragedies besetting the country, President Buhari and his party have not only failed to display competent leadership, but have also failed to be remorseful for their failure. This arrogant, unsympathetic, and self-serving impunity must be punished by all well-meaning Nigerians at the polls in 2019.
The OurMumuDonDo Movement abundantly condemns and rejects the reelection declaration of President Muhammadu Buhari, and we wish to state unequivocally that we shall persistently, albeit non-violently, demand a better deal for Nigerians come 2019.
We wish to state emphatically, that in an era when the world is speedily gravitating towards youthful, innovative, and visionary leadership, Nigeria must completely reject the recycling of deceptive, primitive, incompetent, ailing, power-intoxicated and arrogant geriatrics whose only mission in governance is to sabotage the nation, plunder our commonwealth, and endlessly ramify the masses.
In conclusion, we hereby urge all Nigerian youths to get their Permanent Voter Card (PVC) – no matter how difficult, and enthusiastically participate in the democratic process by saying NEVER AGAIN to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared the intention to run for the second term after months of speculation.
The President said this on Monday at a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership.
The national publicity secretary of the APC, Bolaji Abdullahi and the Chief Whip, House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa confirmed this while addressing journalists in Abuja after the NEC meeting.
Special adviser to the President on New media and engagement, Bashir Ahmad in a tweet on his official handle @BashirAhmaad also confirmed it.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has just officially announced his intention to seek re-election in 2019. Details soon…” his tweet read.
Movement of Biafrans In Nigeria- MOBIN is a political pressure group established as a civil rights movement with vision to impart political education to the Biafran masses and ensure that stooges and efulefus will no longer be planted in our midst by the Northern and Western Oligarchy to rule over us in Biafraland. You can describe MOBIN as a political watchman. Enough of the efulefus and stooges! True Biafrans must be elected to rule in Biafraland. Enough of the efulefus who serve their masters in the North and West at our detriment.MOBIN believes in the rule of law, politics and diplomacy to achieve self-determination.
DG Of MOBIN and the newly Inaugurated Ebonyi Coordinator
BVI Channel 1 online was reliably informed that MOBIN has concluded arrangement(s) to build a political movement that will take over all the wards in Ebonyi State.The MOBIN Team led by its Director General- Eberechukwu Anigbogu stormed Abakiliki yesterday to inaugurate Ebonyi Chapter of the Movement.The DG charged the members to remain steadfast and work in sincerity and Fairness for the benefit of all Biafrans. She continued by telling them of the need for Biafrans to take over their political territory and elect only people that are Biafracentric. On his own part,the MOBIN Director in charge of Biafra Orientation- Comrade Zulu Ofoelue told Ebonyians that MOBIN operates within the ambit of both local and international laws.Also, Evangelist Joseph Agbo who is in charge of MOBIN Political Education took the members down the memory lane about the quest for freedom from different corners of the world. He went further to inform them that the world is not ready to listen to any war monger and thus, the need to embrace diplomacy and political education which forms the cardinal point of the activities of MOBIN.
The newly inaugurated Executives of MOBIN ,Ebonyi Chapter expressed happiness that finally succor has come the way of Ebonyi people.
In a related note ,The DG of MOBIN led other Directors to pay a condolence visit to Late Achuzia county Home in Asaba.DG -Eberechukwu Anigbogu(Ada Biafra) signed Late Achuzia Condolence register in presence of other Directors.
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, has raised the alarm over a plot by the Federal Government and her agents, to frame him up by planting illegal items on him in any of his trips outside the shores of Nigeria, and have him quizzed and embarrassed by foreign security agencies.
The governor disclosed this in astatement by his Special Assistant on Electronic Media, Simeon Nwakaudu, yesterday.
“My investigation reveals that the federal government, using her security agencies, is planning to set me up anytime I am travelling outside the country.
“They plan to organise security to storm the hotel I am staying and say they found xyz cash in my possession; after which they would say I was arrested for currency trafficking or whatever offences outside the country.
“They will then precipitate crisis in my state and other parts of Nigeria.
“They will plan demonstrations to demonise me and claim I have gone outside to embarrass the country. The public odium is meant to smear me before my people and other Nigerians. It is unfortunate, wicked and unfair. What they plan is similar to what was once done to the late Chief DSP Alamieseigha. They are planning what they call the ‘Alams treatment’ for me. But, by the grace of Almighty God, they will fail.”
Governor Wike said although he is neither scared nor disturbed over the plot, he felt the need to alert the country and the world, to plot.
He said: “I am using this opportunity to alert the world of the sinister plot. I am a law-abiding citizen of this country and countries I visit in the course of my work or holidays. I have never dabbled into anything illegal. So, any attempt to frame me up on trumped up charges or alleged offences is bound to fail. What they are doing is just cheap politics. They want to intimidate the opposition into silence as they are already doing with their so-called ‘looters’ list.’ It won’t work.
“We can’t all be intimidated. What we expect government at the centre to do is to showcase to the people their lists of achievements; why they should get a second chance. But, they have nothing to show, so, they are embarking on intimidation and arm-twisting tactics of the opposition.”
Wike said he is sure of resounding victory at the polls in 2019, because he has “been serving the people diligently and efficiently.
“My works will speak for me. My projects will speak for. The people of Rivers state will speak for me by voting me back. No shaking,” he added.
BVI Channel 1 Crew was at Innoson Factory ,Emene in Enugu State yesterday in furtherance of her resolve to identify and promote the philosophy of Akulouno (Think Home Philosophy) .Osita Agu of ADF accompanied the BVI Channel 1 Team to witness the Innoson wonders.It was a site to behold as thousands of our people work inside the factory to earn a living.Innoson Plastic Plant when fully utilized has the Capacity of feeding the entire African Market with all kinds of plastic items .
In the spirit of Akulouno, BVI Channel 1 online wishes to encourage people from south eastern part of Nigeria to borrow a leaf from Innoson Group to make Alaigbo a new investment destination .It is high time we stopped developing other land(s) while leaving Alaigbo like burial ground.
BVI Channel 1 is partnering with Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) to drum up massive support for Akulouno Project.
Storiesof men who kill for love most often sound far-fetched and are frequently staples of make-believe. But recently, such a horror happened in real life when Thompson Agena cold-bloodedly took a life for the sake of winning a woman’s love. His crime leaves family, friends, and neighbours reeling with shock and disbelief because the victim was his six-year-old daughter and his only child who lost her mother exactly two years ago.
Love and tragedies
The life of Thompson Agena, 47, a native of Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, is characterized by tribulation and tragedies. Agena, who earns his livelihood as a carpenter since he completed his secondary education in Government Science Secondary School Lafia in 1988, married his wife, Cecilia, a native of Obi Local Government Area of the state in 2005 and the couple had their first child, a daughter named Mercy in 2011. Thereafter, they had a difficulty conceiving a second child until 2016 when Cecilia took in and eventually died shortly after giving birth.
A repentant Thompson Agena narrated to Saturday Sun how he lost his wife to maternal mortality on April 20, 2016. His wife’s second pregnancy was a few days overdue when he took her to the General Hospital in Lafia to be induced and he went back home to make plans for to welcome back the mother and the new child. “I got one of my younger sisters to help her at home when she returns back, and I painted the house in bright colours. I did all I could to make sure that it was comfortable for my wife and our new baby,” he recounted.
At the hospital, Cecilia had a prolonged labour, finally giving birth to a 4.6kg baby boy, but she continued bleeding, suffering a postpartum hemorrhage, and at 1:23 am, had died of blood loss.
According to him, the hospital was out of stock of the drugs needed to stop his wife’s bleeding. “So I went out to buy them. Nobody told me why she died,” he said.
While he had contemplated taking legal action against the hospital for negligence, he was discouraged by the futility of such action taken by some individuals in the past.
“I decided to leave it to God because nothing I do will bring her back,” he said.
A week later, another tragedy struck. The baby boy died and was buried immediately in the village.
While the circumstance leading to the death of his wife and his newborn child was beyond his control, he, however, had no excuse for indulging in the self-inflicted calamity of murdering a child.
The impossible ‘marriage condition’
A year after his wife’s demise, Agena enrolled for a part-time diploma programme at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic where he met Joy Orkuma, a native of Guma Local Government Area, Benue State. The pair fell in love, and soon after, she became pregnant.
Agena was as passionate about his newfound love as to declare his willingness to do anything in order to get her committed to marriage. Like Herodias’ daughter who asked for “the head of John the Baptizer”, Orkuma asked for the elimination of his six-year-old daughter.
In the night of February 22, Agena did her bidding. He picked his daughter who was in deep slumber and dumped her inside a well.
Her body was discovered the next day when a farmer named Joseph Kula wanted to use the well. Kula raised an alarm and neighbours rallied to recover the lifeless body from the well.
Agena, since arrested by the police and charged to court, attributed his heinous action to an overpowering love for his new girlfriend and the unbearable phobia of losing her and the pregnancy she had for him.
According to the suspect, his girlfriend argued that she wouldn’t want to raise a family with a witch around her. Agena alleged she had threatened to abort the pregnancy and quit their relationship if he failed to take action.
When Saturday Sun spoke over the phone to Joy Orkuma, currently on the run, she conveyed no sympathy about the situation. She claimed she only suggested her incompatibility with the six-year-old whose behavior she described as unusual for a girl of her age. “I told him that if I must marry him, Mercy will have to leave,” she asserted, “[because] she always appear in my dreams each time I pass a night in her father’s house. So when I became pregnant for him, I told him that I can’t deliver a baby in the house for Mercy to kill.”
She had no misgivings speaking ill about the murdered girl whom she told Saturday Sun was not a human being. According to her, the father’s murder of his daughter was the best thing to do.
In the meantime, the scales have fallen from the eyes of the murderous father whose remorse is not about the life he snuffed but a lamentation of letting down his late wife’ that, “My wife will never forgive me in her grave. I have betrayed her trust and love for me.”
According to him, Joy Orkuma had hated Mercy from the beginning and had consistently framed stories about her. “I regretted buying into her devilish ideas,” he wailed.
A twist in the tale
The younger brother of the suspect, David Agena brought a fresh angle to the story when he told Saturday Sun that his elder brother was not the biological father of the late Mercy. According to him, the late Cecilia Agena was two months pregnant when she married his elder brother.
“We all knew what happened, but that is a long story,” he said. “I don’t want to talk about that now. No sane human being will kill his daughter because of a girlfriend, [I mean] how can you do a thing like that? Cecilia was a nice woman, godly and hard working; she loved her husband so much, in fact, they both love themselves. I don’t know what came over him.”
He gave further background about the contentious paternity.
“About three guys, including my elder brother, were dating Cecilia and when she got pregnant. It was confusing who actually was responsible. But she insisted it was my elder brother, who out of love, accepted it and got married to her. Later, we heard that he was not the one. So, there was that problem. But, my elder brother and his late wife were the best of friends. There is no reason for him to do what he has done because of a woman.”
Real Igbo Elders and leaders have spoken and you can only find such men in ADF.
In case you don’t know him, he was the ADC to Biafran Leader Odumegwu Ojukwu during the Biafra war, he went and returned with his boss from exile and he said things many have not heard about the war.
