THIS IS A DEMOCRACY NOT MILITARY GOVT THAT RULES BY DECREE; OBJ TELLS BUHARI

THIS IS A DEMOCRACY NOT MILITARY GOVT THAT RULES BY DECREE; OBJ TELLS BUHARI

Speaking further on his twitter handle, the ex-president stressed the need for President Buhari to respect the rule of law and court orders. He was reacting to the presidential media chat, where president Buhari (an ex-military dictator) ordered his DSS to remand persons who have been granted bail by courts severally.

SHI’IA MUSLIMS JOINS BIAFRANS TO DRAG BUHARI TO ICC OVER KILLINGS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

The Shi’a Islamic Movement of Nigeria have joined their Biafran counterpart in Nigeria to seek redress for the murder of their members by the men of the Nigerian Army at the International Criminal Court of Justice.

Yakubu Yahaya, a leader of the Shi’a Islamic movement of Nigeria has said that the movement has assembled a team of prominent local and international lawyers to bring up

charges against the Nigerian government. 

At a a press conference, Wednesday in Katsina, Yakubu Yahaya a leader of the Shi’a Islamic movement of Nigeria, said it will not watch their oppressors get away without a fair trial, said that God is the ultimate judge. He said;

“This world is too small now and therefore no matter the level of atrocities committed against a people with time it will catch up with you. We live everything to God and Insha Allah he will judge against those who oppressed us” he added.

The Shi’a Islamic movement leader also dismissed the claims by the Nigerian Army which was reechoed by Governor Elrufai of Kaduna state, that the group was stockpiling arms to cause trouble, adding “in the over 40 years of our existence we never carried arms. We will never fight or carry arms”.

Reacting to Sheikh Gumi’s allegation that the Shi’a Islamic movement has been running a parallel government, Yahaya commented that “to run a government is to have a president, governors, parliament, the security agencies and other arms. But in our case we don’t have any”.

The Shi’a Islamic movement of Nigeria, said that muslims of the different persuasion who are currently celebrating the killings of Shi’as in Zaria reminded that a time may come when they will find themselves in the same shoes.

The whereabouts of the Shi’a Islamic movement of Nigeria leader, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky remains unknown. Earlier reports of him being remanded in a Kaduna prison has been disclaimed by the Comptroller of the Prisons.

Teenage Boy Risks Amputation After Using Firecracker In Delta State

A teenage boy in Delta State, southern Nigeria, whose fingers were mutilated by a firecracker, faces possible amputation, doctor said on Friday.

The medical doctor of the Federal Medical Centre in Asaba, the capital of Delta State, Dr. Victor Osiajuma, told Channels Television that health officials were making frantic efforts to save the boys arm.

At the Children Ward of the hospital, the victim and the son of Mr James Stephen, lies in pains, hoping that the doctor could save his severely damaged arm which has already been treated and bandaged.

The victim, who wishes to remain unknown, gave an account of what actually happened and said he had been in pain since the incident occurred.

The risk of using firecrackers are huge Dr. Osiajuma warned, explaining that the use of consumer fireworks could lead to devastating burns, other injuries, fires and even death.

Perhaps a lot of people are still very ignorant of the negative effects and dangers of some firecrackers, but the Delta State Police Command through its spokesman, Celestina Kalu, said frantic efforts were made before the beginning of the yuletide season to sensitise residents of Delta State on the use of firecracker, stating that it was also against the law.

Experts have warned that it is always advisable not to purchase or possess firecracker. They advised that taking out time to watch public displays of fireworks conducted by trained professionals remained the safest.
So let us celebrate ‘The Safe Way’, Keeping in mind that all fireworks are illegal.

PRESS RELEASE! SEE WHAT IPOB PLANS TO DO NEXT IF BUHARI FAILS TO RELEASE KANU (SHARE)

On the 30th of December 2015, Retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari who is the current president of Nigeria told the world that Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), will not be released from detention despite two court orders for him to be released. The reasons Buhari gave were that;
1) Nnamdi Kanu committed atrocities (Buhari was not specific on this),
2) Nnamdi Kanu will jump bail,
3) Nnamdi Kanu has two passports (one British and one Nigerian),
4) Nnamdi Kanu entered into Nigeria without a passport,
5) Nnamdi Kanu imported sophisticated broadcasting equipment into Nigeria with which he is broadcasting Radio Biafra, and
6) Nnamdi Kanu has a treasonable felony charge against him.
There are two things that must be placed on records here and these are:

i) The Magistrate Court and the High Court, all in Abuja, both ordered the release of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally. At no time during the court proceedings did the attorney representing the Directorate of State Services (DSS) raise any objection or bring the issues/concerns mentioned by Mr. Buhari. In every organized society, any pronouncement of the court stands until invalidated or vacated by another court of competent jurisdiction.

ii) On the 31st of December 1983, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari led his military colleagues to forcefully overthrow a democratically elected Federal Government of Nigeria headed by Alhaji Aliyu Usman Shehu Shagari. This act, in every known country of the world, is called TREASON and in some cases the punishment is death. The entire world and IPOB in particular are shocked by the statements of Mr. Buhari in which he overrode the supremacy of court orders. The world is also surprised that Mr. Buhari who committed treason in 1983 when he sacked a democratically elected government, is now sitting in judgment accusing Mr. Nnamdi Kanu of treasonable felony.

As at the time of Mr. Buhari’s statements, the proposed case of charging Mr. Nnamdi Kanu is still with the Chief Judge of the High Court for assignment to a trial Judge but Mr. Buhari has already found Mr. Nnamdi Kanu guilty.

Previously, the leadership of IPOB has alerted the world on the terrorist attacks on Biafrans by the Buhari-led Nigerian government. We provided verifiable evidences and quoted dates, places, and individuals visited with terror acts by Buhari’s agents. We also alerted the international community that the Buhari-led Nigerian government is provoking Biafrans into reacting to the incessant killings and that the government will turn around and tag IPOB as a terrorist organization.

Today, all our predictions have not only come to pass, the terrorist acts visited upon Biafrans by Mr. Buhari and his agents have quadrupled and more Biafrans have been killed by Buhari’s agents than was projected. For the avoidance of doubt, the quest for self-determination is sacrosanct, UN-approved via the U.N.D.R.I.P., and is part of the Nigerian Constitution. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) is not a terrorist organization but an UN-recognized and ECOSOC-registered organization. The IPOB is legally registered in many countries of the world with certificate of recognition issued by the governments of such countries.

The principal officers of IPOB in each country are law-abiding citizens and they do not operate in hiding. Mr. Nnamdi Kanu is the Leader of IPOB worldwide and he does not have any criminal record and he has visited almost every country in Asia, Europe, Middle East, and North America including Australia and Trinidad & Tobago. We would like to make it very clear to Mr. Buhari and his Nigerian agents that the quest for the restoration of the nation of Biafra is unstoppable, unchangeable, irrevocable and irreversible. Mr. Buhari’s disobedience to court orders and the manufacturing/concocting of charges in order to jail or extra-judicially murder Mr. Nnamdi Kanu shall never deter Biafrans from the God-ordained project of the restoration of the nation of Biafra.

However, we want to give an advance warning that Biafrans have the rights to self-defence and this right will be exercised to its fullest. Again, we warn that exercising our right to self-defence must not be used as an excuse to tag IPOB as a terrorist organization. The ball is now in the court of Mr. Buhari and his agents to either obey court orders and release Mr. Nnamdi Kanu from detention and stop the continual killing of Biafrans or brace up for backlash from the international community because we believe they will not continue to watch Mr. Buhari misbehave and bring shame to humanity. A stitch in time saves nine, Mr. Muhammadu Buhari.

Signed:
Barrister Emma Nmezu: (Spokesperson for IPOB)
Dr. Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya (Spokesperson for IPOB)

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”.