HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYERS BLAST BUHARI OVER NEGLECT OF COURT ORDERS

Nigerian activists and lawyers have berated President Muhammadu Buhari for saying the government will continue to detain two prominent detainees – former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and the leader of the separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) – despite several court orders that they should be released from detention.

During Wednesday’s presidential media chat, Mr Buhari, while responding to a question by PREMIUM TIMES’ Ibanga Isine on the State Security Service’s has continued disregard for court orders on the release of Mr. Dasuki and Mr. Kanu, said the magnitude of their alleged crimes was too grievous that government cannot afford to release them on bail.

Mr Dasuki is facing corruption charges over alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the procurement of arms while Mr. Kanu was charged for treasonable felony.

“If you see the atrocities these people committed against this country, we can’t allow them to jump bail. What of the over two million people displaced, most of them orphans whose fathers have been killed? We cannot allow that,” he said justifying while the SSS re-arrested Mr. Dasuki despite meeting bail conditions fixed by a Federal High Court.

On why Mr. Kanu was still being held, Mr Buhari said: “And the one you are calling Kanu, do you know he has two passports – one Nigerian, one British – and he came into this country without any passport? Do you know he came into this country with sophisticated equipment and was broadcasting for Radio Biafra?”
Most of those interviewed by PREMIUM TIMES believe Mr Buhari overstepped his power by openly defying the judiciary on national television.

Describing the comment as a “national embarrassment”, human rights lawyer, Ebun Adegboruwa, said Mr. Buhari, a former head of a military junta, which ruled the country in the 1980s with an iron fist, proved by his open defiance of the judiciary that he remained a dictator at heart.

“We appreciate the President because he has spoken from his heart and gave us the correct impression of who he is,” he said.

“Under Section 287 of the 1999 constitution, all persons exercising judicial, executive or legislative power must have respect for the order of the court. It is not proper for the president to choose which order to respect or to obey. Given that the president assumed office through the rule of law, it is totally uncharitable to be humiliating the judiciary openly in a presidential chat,” he added.

He said the President’s comment was capable of undermining the judiciary and causing anarchy.
“The reason why this is very difficult is that once we resort to self-rule, once we resort to a situation where the leadership is breathing down lawlessness, then anarchy will come because if a president will not obey a court order, a business man will not obey it, policemen will not obey it.

“It would be promoting anarchy. I am sure in some quarters the SSS people are rejoicing. Overzealous security officials and rejoicing, and perhaps using the President’s comment as reason to put people in custody and breed impunity.”
While asking the President to apologise to Nigeria for making such a comment, Mr. Adegboruwa advised judges not to be intimidated by Mr. Buhari’s comment and to carry on with their job without fear.
Similarly, Lanre Suraju, Chairman of the Civil Society Network Against Corruption, (CSNAC), said the President’s comment was “unfortunate”, adding that his utterance was capable of undermining security agencies in their jobs.

“The utterance of the president yesterday (Wednesday) only shows that there is a government agenda specifically and deliberately skewed to perpetually keep the guy in detention. And that is most unfortunate. That is also not only pitching the judiciary against the executive, it is also showing that there would be a measure of arbitrariness on the part of the executive.

“The case of Nnamdi Kanu is also unfortunate. It is an extra-judicial action. Basically, if he is being charged for treason, there is also certain conditions that needs to be met before bail can be granted. If the lawyers of the government have failed to establish the magnitude of his offence, and the court in its own wisdom has granted that bail, the SSS has no basis and no reason under the rule of law to perpetually keep him in detention,” he said.

Lagos-based lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, said the President’s argument about the severity of the detainees’ alleged crimes is not a justification to disobey court order.

According to him Mr Buhari will be violating Section 287 of the constitution if he refuses to obey court orders.

“I have my gaze fixed on section 287 of the constitution which says that decisions of our courts are bidding on authorities and persons including the presidents,” Mr. Ogunye said.

He, however, added that there was no law stopping security agencies from rearresting a person released on bail if there are facts suggesting that he was involved in another crime.

“Do you know how many offences Dasuki has committed? Do you know whether another charge is being prepared against him now? So would you begrudge the state the right to charge him in as many offences as he has committed in his life time?” he asked.


“There is what is call prosecutorial discretion. It is in the interest of the public that they be charged for every corruption related offence.”

He also berated judges for being soft on politicians facing charges while applying the full weight of the law on other suspects.

“I’ve said fighting corruption is not a theatre. It is not a circus. I’m familiar with the disposition of our court when it comes to granting bails to few cases of people who are alleged to have been involved in bank fraud and for instance have stolen N20 million or whatever, they are remanded in prison custody. The judges would say they are not going to exercise their discretion.

“But in the case of politicians, they would saunter to the court, assured that they are going to be released and then the court will grant them bail. Do you know that Dasuki was first granted bail on self-recognition?”
Similarly, a former Chairman of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, Monday Ubani, said although the president must ensure that the independence of the judiciary should not be undermined, he has a right to express his opinion on certain national issues like every Nigerian.

According to him, what the president was trying to say by his comment was that the judiciary should desist from giving frivolous orders.

“The president has a right to say certain things because he lives in Nigeria and he knows that there some criminal trial since 2007 and up till now we have not gone beyond the preliminary stages. What I’m saying is that our system has an issue. We have not been able to handle our cases in manner that engenders confidence. A lot of cases are muddled up here where as if those cases are taken abroad they are handled within a timeline. So anyone has a right to be angry with what is going on in this country. There is problem with our administration of criminal justice in Nigeria.

“But having said that, the President cannot in anyway interfere with the judicial process. He must allow judicial process to run through,” he said.

Again, Nigerian President, Muhammdu Buhari Caught in the web of his Lies – CNN

“And I assure you that we will defeat Boko Haram by the end of this year.” This was the
pledge made by Nigerian President Muhammdu Buhari to his Beninese counterpart, Boni Yayi,
during a gala dinner commemorating Benin’s independence during the summer of 2015.
It was a promise that the Nigerian head of state would also reiterate to fellow Nigerians, who
eagerly waited for him to make good on his promise and act with the decisiveness that Buhari
had accused his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, of lacking. Yet as 2015 drew to a close, the
specter of Boko Haram loomed as large as ever over Africa’s most populous state.

IMPUNITY, COVER UP BY FG ; HURIWA URGES UN, AU TO PROBE NNEWI GAS EXPLOSIONS

IMPUNITY, COVER UP BY FG ; HURIWA URGES UN, AU TO PROBE NNEWI GAS EXPLOSIONS

Nnewi-FireHuman Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the United Nations and African Union to probe the remote and immediate causes of the unfortunate gas explosions that left over 100 residents of Nnewi the industrial hub of Anambra State dead or maimed.

HURIWA said there was urgent need for such global intervention because on previous occasions few months back when such sad incidents happened, such as the discovery of over forty freshly executed corpse that were allegedly dumped in Awka River by the Anambra State police command, the relevant bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the 7th session of the National Assembly compromised the investigations and failed to bring the culprits to trial in the competent courts of law.

In a statement signed jointly by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, the group noted that such cocktails of impunity and cover ups by federal government agencies and the National Assembly mustn’t be swept under the carpets any longer and vowed to press on with her advocacy for a transparent and accountable closures to all these incidents.
HURIWA said local investigative mechanisms ere heavily compromised and corrupt and therefore can’t be trusted to come up with evidence based findings.

“Government must restructure the National Human Rights Commission to become responsive and proactive to provide redress to victims of human rights violations”, he said.

Speaking on the suspected Gas explosions in Nnewi Anambra State, the Rights group said the general perceptions and suspicions by majority of the people who witnessed the inferno was that suicide bombers allegedly linked to the North East of Nigeria’s based armed Islamists -Boko Haram terrorists may have masterminded the violence in the industrial plant owned by a respected Nigerian manufacturer.

HURIWA said it would be foolhardy to discredit this line of suspicions of Boko Haram terrorists’ links to the Nnewi gas explosions unless proper investigation was carried out by independent -minded persons and institutions.

HURIWA recalled that on the eve of Christmas in Nnewi, Anambra State, scores were killed when an industrial gas plant suddenly exploded.

The group lamented that the business-as- usual pattern of Photoshop by government officials who visited the unfortunate victims in hospitals “to make meaningless remarks just to be seen in the media have commenced in earnest without commensurate effort by government at the center to uncover the real causes of this sad incident.
“Many of the victims were trapped inside the Inter Corp Oil Limited (LPG Gas Plant) factory, a subsidiary of Chikason Group, located along Nnewi-Okigwe road behind Innoson Motor Manufacturing Industry, HURIWA recalled.”
HURIWA quoted local reports as stating that most of the victims, who had gone to the gas plant to get a refill ahead of Christmas were burnt beyond recognition, while some others, who were in the neighborhood and surroundings of the gas plant also got caught in the inferno.
It added that the few lucky victims, who were severely burnt, have reportedly been taken to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, NAUTH, Nnewi but regretted that most of these persons had been abandoned by government.
HURIWA quoting local reports said: “The fire destroyed the depot and its surroundings including some buildings and cars around it. Workers, customers and motorcyclists are among those feared dead. The cause of the fire, which started in the afternoon, was yet to be ascertained as at press time.”

HURIWA said there was urgent need to launch an open, transparent, independent and an accountable investigative process by trustworthy international bodies like the United Nations Human Rights Council and the African Human Rights Department of the African Union to investigate widespread allegations of terrorists involvement.

“From pragmatic evidence it seems those who point accusing fingers on Boko Haram terrorists may after all not be totally wrong unless and except contrary body of evidence is seen. Islamic terrorists are known for going for soft targets and for launching daring attacks to score symbolic pyrrhic victory.

“Several violent events happened in Anambra State including the Catholic Church adoration ground’s stampede somewhere near Onitsha, which claimed dozens of worshippers and the discovery of freshly killed human remains abandoned in a community River near Awka the Anambra State capital during the administration of Mr Peter Obi but both the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission conducted investigations whose outcomes didn’t only suffer official compromise and secrecy but the culprits were never punished.
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“We want the global body such as the UN to be invited to investigate whether Boko Haram was behind the recent mass killings that resulted from the gas explosions in NNEWI Anambra State. The Nigerian government must facilitate this investigation immediately”.

OUSTED EX-SENATE PRESIDENT, WABARA LED UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS TO BLOCK ROADS IN ABA

A former President of the Senate, Chief Adolphus Wabara, on Saturday led hundreds of umidentified persons to block major reads īn the commercial capital, Aba, in protest at the appeal court’s removal of the governor.

Among major roads they blocked were Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Osisioma junction, Ogbor Hill and areas around Ariaria International Market.

They carried īnscriptions that spoke of their rejection of the court’s verdict, ordering the removal of Ikpeazu and the inauguration of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Alex Otti.

They vowed not to accept the verdict even as they said they would resist the alleged plan to inaugurate Otto on Monday.

 

More details later.

Nnamdi Kanu: Lawyer Petitions Obama Asking Buhari to Respect Court Orders

A constitutional lawyer, Ms Carol Ajie has petitioned President Barrack Obama of the United States, the National Judicial Council (NJC) amongst others, over President Muhammadu Buhari’s “disobedience of court orders.”

Ajie in the petition, which has garnered almost 200 signatories since its launch on New Year’s eve, said that Buhari by his statements during the Presidential Media Chat at the State House in Abuja, “is behind the flagrant disobedience of court orders.”
The President had during the media chat admitted that the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) and the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mr. Nnamdi Kanu were being held against court orders because they could run away.
However, Ajie said that this runs contrary to the law and the principle of separation of powers as enshrined in the constitution.
The human rights lawyer expressed concern that the President if unchecked might drag the country towards dictatorship.
“Buhari took the oath of allegiance to protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the President’s oath of office to discharge his duties faithfully, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of Nigeria.
“Within President Buhari’s first year in office, too soon after he took the revered oaths, he and state agents acting under his supervision and at his maiden media chat on Wednesday 30th December, made puerile attempts to justify constitutional breaches.
“But under the Immigration Act, the President or the Minister may deport anyone who travels without a valid travel document or detain for a period not exceeding seven days. In holding Kanu beyond the required period, they have infracted on the Immigration Act, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and subsisting court orders.”
“We call on President Buhari to resign from office or face impeachment proceedings. Alternatively, to avoid another Burundi, We call on him to comply with the orders of courts,” said the lawyer in her petition.

#BIAFRA:Kanu’s Wife Reveals Why Her Husband Supports Biafra

Uchechi Okwu-Kanu, the wife of the controversial director of Radio Biafra, has revealed why her husband supports the idea of the independence of Biafra states.


Kanu’s wife, who believes her spouse, detained by the Nigerian state security service (DSS), is a prisoner of conscience has granted the interview to the IBTimes UK.


Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other pro-Biafran groups call for the independence of territories that formed the Biafran Republic, in 1967 and re-annexed to Nigeria in 1970.
Kanu, who is the leader of the movement, was arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to an unlawful society. Biafra leader pleaded not guilty.
Uchechi Okwu-Kanu said: “It is the British who laid the foundation of Nigeria. And these people are of different culture, different religion, different belief, different understanding of life.

“So we all are different in several ways every way. We are not actually meant to be together. You must have heard about the Biafran war. My mom was born a few years before we defended ourselves. We defended ourselves for over a long period of time,” she added.

Kanu’s wife continued that Biafrans are now suffering. “We don’t have better schools, we don’t have better roads, we don’t have anything, not even jobs,” she added.

“So that is why what they are doing is to live. So I would say referendum is not a bad idea, is not about an option, but the people need to understand why we want Biafra.

“And that’s what Nnamdi Kanu is doing, sanitising his people, creating awareness. And you can see that a lot of people have woken up from slumber. Most people who are sleeping have come to realise that this is really what it should be. I mean if he releases and he stops it means he’s been defeated or he doesn’t know what he wanted in the first place.

“But if you know the reason why you are asking for something, you asking for bread because you are hungry,and then you released from jail but still didn’t receive you bread, you are still hungry. so he would continue, he will yes,” Kanu’s wife concluded.

EXPLOSIVE!!! BUHARI PROMISES OGONI PEOPLE N3.6Bn YEARLY TO WORK AGAINST BIAFRA

Buhari pledges and promised 3.6billion Naira yearly to Ogoni people not to support Biafra . And additional 1billion if there are no disruption on oil flow.
Information reaching the Biafran people now is that Buhari and his agents who are very afraid that the so called South South have finally find their roots as Biafrans and are working seriously to make sure they restore Biafra
The whole of eastern part of Nigeria has witness all kinds of secret visitors from Tony Blair who left Igewocha (Port Harcourt) few days ago to Gowon, Obasanjo and others in quest to stop the Biafra struggle ,but they never know that they will all fail.
The kind of promises and pledges Buhari and APC are making to Niger delta people are causing a lot of ripples in the mind of our brothers . How come now ? Why these sudden pledges? ,just because they are afraid of Biafra to come example : Buhari just promised and pledged to be paying Ogoni people 3.6billion Naira yearly and an additional 1 billion Naira each year if they did not cause any problem for the flow of Oil.

My people you all can see all their criminal minded promises ,they are now planning to use money to divide our people as they always do ,they are planning to make Lagos semi Autonomy . Divide and rule is their tactics . Remember they have given you Niger Delta ,amnesty And today they are killing all your prominent men and women. Don’t ever go into any deal with these criminals leaders and blood suckers ,remember the amnesty ,they have failed you ,today many of you have realized it was a game . A fool at 40 is a fool for ever .
Recall that Asari Dokubo has revealed a charter for the Biafra republic
Tell them is Biafra you want or nothing !!!