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Tuesday, 25 May 2021 0

 


 

By ALOY EJIMAKOR


The Rome Statute is the international treaty that founded the International Criminal Court. Comprising of 13 Parts, it establishes the governing framework for the Court. Adopted at the Rome Conference on 17th July 1998, it came into force on 1st July 2002, thereby creating the International Criminal Court.


The Statute sets out the Court's jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and – as of an amendment in 2010 – the crime of aggression.


Nigeria has ratified the Statute, thus making the Nigerian State and non-State actors subject to the jurisdiction of ICC. The Nigerian State means its President and his appointees, especially the heads of the security agencies, their commanders, officers and the other ranks under them. It also includes Governors and all personnels working under their authority, directly or indirectly.


Among other things, the International Criminal Court was created to end impunity for perpetrators of genocide or crimes against humanity and it’s easily implicated wherever the perpetrators are the same as the persons officially saddled with the responsibility of protecting their victims. An example will include where State actors are known to have issued orders that directly or indirectly led to extrajudicial killings or other inhumane treatment.


The Statute defines genocide, in pertinent part, as including the killings or causing serious bodily or mental harm to an ethnic or national group with the intent to destroy them in whole or in part. If other elements are met, genocide becomes easier to prove when the perpetrator is of a different ethnicity from his victims. Nigeria is a tinderbox because of its many ethnicities and the genocidal tendencies that have been driving some of its officials in the implementation of security operations when it comes to a particular ethnicity.


Crimes against humanity include the widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population through murder, extermination, torture, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law. Included also is persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, ethnic or religious grounds universally recognized as impermissible under international law.


This is where Nigerian State actors need to be very circumspect when dealing with proponents of self determination because self determination is a political opinion clearly recognized under international law.


No government official enjoys immunity from ICC prosecution for genocide or crimes against humanity and there is no statute of limitation. In plain terms, neither the Nigerian Constitution or its sovereignty, nor the passage of time will protect you. Just imagine how long it took to nab Charles Taylor.


Under the Statute, commanders and superiors are saddled with special criminal responsibilities. In particular, a military or police commander, de jure or de facto, is criminally responsible for crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction if committed by forces under his effective control or authority.


Within purview also are crimes caused by neglecting to exercise proper control over forces under him where the commander either knew or should have known that the forces were committing or soon to commit such crimes and the commander neglected to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his power to prevent them or to submit the matter to the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution.


If the commander or superior officer is the one directly suborning the crime, such as in the case of Slobodan Milošević or Charles Taylor, the elements of the offense are met without more. Suborning the crime includes issuing direct orders to “shot to kill or shoot at sight”.


And for junior officers or other ranks, superior orders are not defenses to genocide or crimes against humanity. This means that when your superior officer orders you to “kill them all”, think twice before pulling that trigger.


The ICC Prosecutor shall initiate an investigation of alleged genocide or crimes against humanity upon receipt and evidentiary evaluation of information that provides a reasonable basis for the allegation.


On December 11, 2020, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has been investigating Nigeria for crimes that implicate the Rome Statute, made the following findings, amongst others:


‘Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met. Specifically, we have found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture and cruel treatment; enforced disappearance; outrages upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against civilian population and against individual civilians; unlawful imprisonment; persecution on political grounds; and other inhumane acts’.


Anybody who has been observing Nigeria since late 2015 would easily discern that some of the evidence examined by the ICC Chief Prosecutor included the killings at Nkpor in Anambra State, the night vigil killings in Aba, Abia State, the Onitsha head bridge killings, the killings issuing from Python Dance at Afaraukwu, Abia State and in which IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu nearly lost his life and lately the August 2020 Enugu massacre and the killing of EndSARS protesters in October 2020 in Lagos.


It’s instructive that these killings occurred from the inception of the present administration and State actors were implicated from the lowest rungs to the very top. The evidence, including visuals, is legion and unassailable. So, your guess as to who might ultimately be charged before the ICC is as good as mine. For now, the jury is still out on their identities because the developing indictment is as yet under seal.


Meanwhile, after December 2020, there have been more killings, woundings, torture and rape, including particularly at Obigbo and other locations in Rivers State and the Southeast, and lately the killings that have occurred and still occurring in the wake of the current security operations in Eastern Nigeria, code-named Operation Restore Peace which - in its implementation - is beginning to look like a misnomer.


In the midst of all these, it will be naive and foolhardy for Nigerian State actors (Federal, State and local) to believe that the ICC is not keeping tabs and building a stronger case from the quantum credible evidence mined from the many petitions streaming in from various sources.


So, for what’s worth, this humble piece is an early warning to all Nigerian officials who are - directly or indirectly - involved in any extrajudicial killings or other inhumane treatments that appear to be the order of the day in this era.


Ejimakor, a lawyer writes from Alaigbo.

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Sunday, 17 May 2020 0
File Photo: Azumini Blue River


By Aloy Ejimakor

It’s often said that a lie told so many times, if unchallenged, may - in course of time - begin to pass for the truth. One of such is the terrible lie, institutionally purveyed since the end of the Civil War, to the effect that Igboland is landlocked or has no access to the sea. The purpose of this essay, therefore, is to debunk this lie with some simple historical and topographical evidence that are even in plain view, if you care to dig or do some physical explorations of your own.

Suffice it to say that it is a profound tragedy that entire generations of the immediate post-War Igbos never bordered to check but seemingly accepted this brazen institutional falsehood, largely intended to taunt the Igbo and put them down. A few that knew it to be false just didn’t care anymore. And that History was banned since the end of the Civil War made it worse, plus the fact that most people don’t take physical Geography that serious anymore, otherwise they would have known that Abia, Imo and Anambra States have varying short-distance paths to the Atlantic through Imo, Azumiri and Niger Rivers. It’s not really rocket science, as you can easily confirm this if you know how to read Google Earth; or conquer your fear of swamp snakes and walk through these areas on foot.

There are also many other hardly explored waterways and slithering tributaries, including the remote reaches of Oguta Lake and Oseakwa River in Ihiala (Imo State) that meandered through Igbo-delta wetlands to the Southeastern ends of the Atlantic waterfront. These rivers have varying lengths of short navigational paths to the Atlantic, and in some cases, are far shorter nautically (and even on footpath) than the Portharcourt, Calabar and Ibaka seaports are to their side of the Atlantic.

Many of these pathways, including particularly the ones from the outer reaches of Imo and Azumiri Rivers terminate at the Atlantic at no more than 15 to 30 Nautical miles to the beachhead. To put it in lay language, one nautical mile equals 1.8 kilometers. Thus, the contiguity of Southeast (not even the greater Igboland) to the Atlantic is less nautical miles than the Atlantic is to the seaports in Calabar, Onne, Ibaka, Lagos and Portharcourt. If you discount the territories excised from Igboland during State creations and the damnable boundary adjustments, it will be far less.

To be sure, Ikwerre land or Igweocha which bears the greater portions of the Portharcourt seaport was dredged up to 50 miles to the Atlantic front through the Bonny River. Onne seaport was dredged up to 60 miles to the Atlantic and Calabar seaport was dredged some 45 nautical miles to the Atlantic. Ibaka seaport is about 30 nautical miles to the Atlantic and the Lagos seaports dredged up to about 50 nautical miles to the Atlantic.

Compare all these to Obuaku in Abia State, which is only 25 nautical miles to the Atlantic from the confluence of Imo and Azumiri Rivers, of which Azumiri, on its own merits, lies not more than 30 nautical miles to the Atlantic beachfront. The less obvious one is the little-known Oseakwa River in Ihiala (Imo State) which is mere 18 nauticals to the Atlantic, all with its 65 feet of natural depth, unarguably comparable to no other River in Nigeria.

Additionally, what is geopolitically known as Igboland today is far smaller than what it was and legally supposed to be. As far back as 1856, Baikie - one of the earliest and credible Geographers of ancient Nigeria, had this to say - “Igbo homeland, extends east and west, from the Old Kalabar river to the banks of the Kwora, Niger River, and possesses also some territory at Aboh, an Igbo clan, to the west-ward of the latter stream. On the north it borders on Igara, Igala and A'kpoto, and it is separated from the sea only by petty tribes, all of which trace their origin to this great race" (Baikie, William Balfour, published with a sanction of Her Majesty's Government in 1856).

But with that infamous post-War abandoned property policy and the egregious institutional injustices in boundary adjustments and the widespread anti-Igbo gerrymandering, Igbos physically and psychologically lost hold of their vested ancestral lands, all to the point of not caring anymore about their historical contiguity to the Atlantic, which their ancestors beheld and called ‘Oshimiri’ (The Great Sea). The psychological beat-down and gang-up got so bad that some of the descendants of these Igbo ancestors (nearest to the Atlantic and now lying outside Southeast) are no longer sure whether they are Igbo or not.

The worst injustice was in 1976 when the Justice Nasir Boundary Adjustment Commission made a serious and targeted agenda of carving out core Igboland territories into some neighboring States of the South-South. But they didn’t quite make an absolute success of it. They missed the southernmost Southeast lands that possess Rivers that meandered through slices of Igbo-friendly South-South territories and ended up at the Atlantic, thus unwittingly placing Igboland and its right of access to the sea under the canons of customary international law.

As it stands, international law of the sea guarantees Igboland (whether it remains Nigerian territory or not) unhindered access to the nearest sea (in this case: the Atlantic) peacefully by the many short-distance rivers, waterways and tributaries that originated from Igboland but ultimately washed into the Atlantic through contiguous South-South territories. For avoidance of doubt, there’s particularly the Obuaku confluence in Ukwa West (Abia State) that flows through Ikot Abasi in Akwa Ibom State before expanding out and washing into the near-reaches of the Atlantic. And the River Niger which ultimately joined the Atlantic through a vast network of hardly explored creeks and mangrove swamps that abut the Bight of Bonny in the South-South.

Nigeria is subject to the International Law of the Sea and is therefore bound to abide by its provisions, should the need arise in a scenario of persistent sovereign oppression of an identifiable indigenous group within Nigeria. The others are the United Nations Treaty of the Sea and the African Union Treaties and Conventions on the Sea, including particularly the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, which Nigeria ratified and domesticated in 1983. The pertinent provisions are mostly embedded in the copious provisions relating to the collective economic and commercial rights of indigenous peoples lying within the Treaty nations. Ndigbo are undoubtedly an indigenous people presently lying within Nigeria. So, international law will surely come into play if a conflict arises out of Nigeria’s persistent institutional resistance to granting a seaport to Igboland.

Aloy Ejimakor is a Legal Practitioner


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Sunday, 26 April 2020 0




By John Owen Nwachukwu
A coalition of Nigerian legal practitioners has dragged the People’s Republic of China to court over the effects of the Coronavirus outbreak on the West African giant.

The lawyers are demanding $200 billion as damages for the “loss of lives, economic strangulation, trauma, hardship, social disorientation, mental torture and disruption of the normal daily existence of people in Nigeria.”

This was contained in a statement on Sunday by the lead prosecutor, Prof. Epiphany Azinge (SAN)

Azinge’s law firm, Azinge, and Azinge, is championing the legal action, stressing that they had concluded pleadings for the class action against the Chinese government.

The statement added, “The team of legal experts planned a two-phase line of action-: first is with the federal high court of Nigeria and secondly to persuade the government of Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a state action against the People’s Republic of China at the International Court of Justice at the Hague

“The legal experts will be claiming damages to the tune of 200billion dollars, the Chinese Government will be served through its Embassy in Nigeria.”

Azinge is currently a member of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal London, representing Nigeria and Africa.


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Thursday, 23 April 2020 0
Governor Hope Uzodinma




by Jerrywright Ukwu



Imo governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, has been rated below average by the people of the state as he marks 100 days in office. A survey conducted by the Centre for Digital Information and Communication Management Incorporated (CDCMI), noted that the governor is quite unpopular in the state and will need more than a 100 days to endear himself to the people.

CDCMI, a consortium of public relations, communication, management and public education professionals, led by renowned professor of information & communication technology, Professor Vincent Abara, conducted the survey across 15 local governments in Imo state.

Governor Uzodinma has now spent 3 months in office after he was declared winner by the Supreme Court. Source: Twitter

The survey was hinged on the following factors - acceptability, transparency, stakeholders engagement, due process, health infrastructure, local government administration, preparedness and general overview of governance.

The survey anchored its findings on several factors, among which are posing random questions embedded in the questionnaires.

According to the survey, 62% of the respondents are youths (aged 18-35) while adults and aged people shared the remaining 38%. On the count of acceptability, 78% of the respondents admitted that the government of Uzodimma is very unpopular. In the area of transparency, 59% agreed that the governance of the state shrouded in secrecy more than before.

On stakeholders engagement, 65% who shared their view believe that the governor has failed in this area. A whopping 90% of the respondents hold the opinion that the present government in Imo state has no regard for due process.

On health infrastructure, the Uzodimma administration scored an uninspiring 30%. About 70% of the respondents are of the opinion that the administration is still without any ideas on the issue.

About 52% of the respondents said that the local government administration has been moribund in recent times. 82% of the respondents scored Uzodimma low on preparedness for governance.

The respondents are of the opinion the governor did not have a clear-cut plan for governance.

About 20% are of the opinion that the Hope Uzodimma administration does not hold any promise for Imo state, and as such, they are indifferent to his government.

The remaining 12% yielded faith in the administration, saying that Hope Uzodimma might spring up surprises and turn out better than anticipated.

Recall that Governor Uzodinma was on Sunday, March 8, attacked by youths in the Ohaji Egbema area of the state.

Upon sighting the official SUV jeep of Uzodinma, some youths in the area started throwing stones at the vehicle.


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Nnamdi Kanu




Dumebi Emmanuel 

December 6, 2019


The leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has described Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s ill-advised conviction over alleged fraud and money laundering as politically motivated.

Kanu in a statement on Thursday said he warned Sen. Kalu that the northerners do not love the Igbos. He said this is because of the pathological hatred Alimajiris have towards Biafrans (Igbos especially) because their industry and ingenuity expose their mediocrity.

He, however, described Kalu as one who is committed to one Nigeria.

The statement reads,

“I warned him when he came to see me in Kuje Prison that those illiterate unity begging Alimajiris from the desert don’t love him but he wouldn’t listen.”

“I warned him that Fulani caliphate will not rest until they conquer, subdue and enslave the entire East and West because of their sense of inferiority complex, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“I warned him of the pathological hatred these Alimajiris have towards Biafrans (Igbos especially) because our industry and ingenuity expose their mediocrity, but he wasn’t having it. He was a committed One Nigeria apologist.”

“I reminded him of what happened to Ken Saro Wiwa who like him believed so much in One Nigeria and ended up being killed by the same Alimajiri he served so diligently against Biafra, but he wouldn’t listen.”

“Today they are picking them off one after the other because they know IPOB won’t fight for any Efulefu. If he had known what was to become of him, he would have done exactly what I told him during our meeting, join the nearest IPOB family and support the Biafra restoration project. Isn’t it ironic the only thing that will save Orji Uzor Kalu now is the coming of Biafra. Will Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano, Rochas Okorocha learn from this?”


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Biafra News Team Tuesday, 4 April 2017 0

IPOB PRESS STATEMENT

Date: 04/04/2017

With Justice Binta Nyako's determination on the mode of trial for the leader of IPOB Mazi Nnamdi Kanu coming up on the 6th of April 2017 at the Federal High Court 4 in Abuja, we the members of IPOB would like to place the judicial establishment of Nigeria on notice that the integrity of its entire legal machinery hinges on the outcome of this ruling.

It is therefore prudent to remind Justice Nyako and the entire Nigerian public and the world at large that there are existing legal interpretations of the provisions of the constitution of Nigeria regarding the mode of criminal trials in civil courts which cannot be departed from and we quote:

“The provision dealing with fair hearing under section 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria is for the protection of all the parties to a case the plaintiffs and the defendants alike. It will be oppressive to interpret the provision as conferring a protection on just one of the parties to a case.”
Per Oguntade, J.S.C. in Banna v. Telepower Nigeria Ltd. (2006) 7 SCNJ 182 2283

It is no longer news that on the 13th day of December, 2016, the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Abuja Division, presided over by the Honourable Justice Binta Nyako, delivered a ruling in an application brought by the Federal Republic of Nigeria pursuant to section 232 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and section 34 of Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013.

The Prosecutor’s application, in the main, sought for the “protection” of the prosecutor’s witnesses who are said to be security operatives. The security operatives (witnesses) are seeking this protection to enable them testify in secret against no less a person than the Worldwide Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his co-defendants who were at the time facing various criminal charges verging essentially on treasonable felony, conspiracy to commit treasonable felony and only one person, the second defendant, answering to a minor terrorism charge. It is sufficient to quickly state that at no time during the course of this trial has Mazi Nnamdi Kanu ever been charged with terrorism. Needless to say  that the prosecutor’s application was quickly and unconstitutionally  granted by Justice Nyako.

WE ASK, WAS JUSTICE NYAKO RIGHT?

There has never been any contention or dispute as to the sanctity of the imperishable right of an accused person to be tried in an open court with the public in attendance under Nigeria’s criminal jurisprudence. This uncontested right of a defendant in a criminal trial is indeed inviolate and immutable and admits of no derogation.

There is no arguing the point that the amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the fountain and foundation of Nigeria’s criminal justice administration. By its section 36, public /open trial of persons accused of criminal charges is irrefragably ordained. Indeed, it is the bedrock of the criminal justice system in Nigeria that all persons are equal before the law and are therefore peremptorily entitled to the equal protection of the law. The practice of Justice Binta Nyako eagerly seeking to defend the stance of the prosecution especially regarding the masking of witnesses, runs contrary to spirit and letter of the law.


True indeed, the Terrorism (prevention) (amendment) Act, 2013, by its section 34, provides for the protection of the witnesses in trials of terrorism-related offences. Equally true is the fact that the second defendant only had terrorism count in his charge sheet not Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and the other two accused persons. This provided the springboard for the prosecution to successfully apply for the Court to protect its witnesses. No doubt, the ruling of Justice Binta Nyako granting the prosecutor’s application was equally impelled by the terrorism charge preferred against Chidiebere Onwudiwe and not the IPOB Leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and two other co-defendants. It is instructive to note that  Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Benjamin Madubugwu and David Nwawuisi never had any element of terrorism in their charge sheets. The question becomes, why would Justice Binta Nyako seek to impose a mode of trial reserved for terrorism cases on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who is NOT answering to any terrorism charge?

Interestingly, it is most sufficient to note that the IPOB Leader, through his lead Counsel, robustly challenged the validity of the charges preferred by the prosecutor against the Defendants. It is noteworthy that on the 1st day of March, 2017, Hon. Justice Nyako saw reasons in the forceful contention of the IPOB Leader and consequently quashed six out of the eleven count charges against the IPOB Leader and others, affirming that there is no prima facie evidence to sustain the spurious charges against the defendants. Chief among the charges quashed by the court is that same terrorism charge against the 2nd defendant Chidiebere Onwudiwe. Based on the prevailing circumstances, the prosecutor amended the charge to reflect the severance of the spurious counts rightly quashed by the court. Consequently, the defendants were re-arraigned on the amended charge.

It therefore stands to reason that the same court which ruled in favour of protecting the prosecutor’s witnesses based on the terrorism charge brought against Chidiebere Onwudiwe only, would now make haste to vacate the said ruling since the terrorism charge which impelled the prosecutor to table the application before the court is now no more. Not vacating that earlier ruling would definitely give the court away as a Kangaroo tribunal reminiscent of the darkest days of military dictatorships.

We hasten to reiterate that the constitutional right of an accused person to be tried in public is unquestionably unassailable and must never, under any circumstances, be abridged or asphyxiated by Justice Binta Nyako's court. We make bold to say that secret trial in whatever form or guise, under the Nigerian criminal jurisprudence, has no constitutional foundation. It is an anathema in every democracy worth its name. What Justice Nyako is attempting to do is to cloth justice in darkness thereby turning her court into a Kangaroo court. The Nigerian Supreme Court has severally warned against this bizarre method.

Justice Nyako should be advised by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to heed this:
“The moment a court ceases to do justice in accordance with the law and procedure laid down for it, it ceases to be a regular court to become a kangaroo court.
The reason for all this is that in the end where procedure is ignored justice is usually at a loss; judiciary, in its image, is worsted in the encounter; and the general public for whom the entire drama was meant to serve ends up with a low opinion of the Judiciary. Experience and the test of time have shown that justice has never profited from eccentric or bizarre methods and that painstaking procedural mode have always satisfied the more, the yearning desires of a just society.”
See: BAKARE v. APENA & ORS (1986) NWLR (PT.33) 1

In fact, the Supreme Court was more emphatic when it handed down this warning which we hereby commend to Justice Nyako:
"A Judge will not adopt a method of adjudication, alien to procedural rules of justice upon a plea that he is actuated by the noblest and an impassioned zeal for justice, which propels him into bizarre methods of arriving at that justice, holding as it were, as a justifying Machiavellian principle, that the end justifies the means."
See equally: Alhaji Raimi Edun v. Odan Community (1980) 8-11 S.C. 103

Justice Nyako must draw very hard lessons from history to avoid the pitfalls of the past especially that of prejudice and sentiments in the handling of this extremely sensitive matter before her which has all the potency of making or marring her judicial career.

In signing off this press release, we deem it exigent to graciously put at the disposal of Justice Nyako the immortal and timely dictum of OGUNTADE, J.S.C. in INAKOJU V. ADELEKE (2007) 4 NWLR (pt. 1025) 423 where the erudite justice of the Supreme Court lucidly stated that;
“A Court…must not convey the impression that its judgment is being directed by a desire to heed private or public sentiments. In Onyiah v. Onyia (1989) 1 NWLR (Pt.99) 514 at 532, this Court per Obaseki J.S.C. said that sentiments have no place in the adjudication system. It is in my view that the most unrewarding assignment a Judge could undertake if it tried to give judgment as would please a section of the public. It is like a house built on sand which soon disappears with the approach of the rain. It is argued that even if a judgment is wrong, it is acceptable for as long as it is to public good. That clearly is a fallacy. Public good lies in giving a judgment in accordance with the Constitution of Nigeria and other relevant laws. Public good is an ever- changing phenomenon.”

As 6th April, 2017 draws near for Justice Nyako to rule on the application brought by the IPOB Leader for the court to vacate its earlier ruling on the protection of witnesses, it is hoped that Justice Binta Nyako would not “convey the impression that her ruling is being directed by a desire to heed private or public sentiments”. That, surely, will not promote public good. On the contrary, rather, it would promote anarchy. Public good lies in giving a judgment in accordance with the Constitution of Nigeria which Justice Nyako is under judicial oath to promote and defend without fear or favour, affection or ill will.

Signed:

Dr. Ikenna Chinaka
Mrs Grace Ukpai


IPOB SPOKESPERSONS
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Biafra News Team Wednesday, 22 March 2017 0


(Intersociety & SBCHROs, Nigeria: 22nd March 2017)-The leaderships of International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety) and Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs) are deeply shocked and dismayed concerning the ongoing sponsored attacks by the agents of the Federal Government of Nigeria against the Nigerian Section of Amnesty International, using hired street urchins and laptop based groups; claiming to be human rights groups.

Recall that Amnesty International (AI) is a leading rights group and internationally respected corporate body, based in the United Kingdom and created by Peter Benenson and his associates in 1961. It operates beyond borders and maintains its advocacy presence in the 193-Member States of the United Nations and some 45 other non independent States and trusteeship territories in matters of all human rights recognized under the United Nations and African Union Systems, particularly as it concerns civil and political rights. In Nigeria, civil and political rights are made justiciable by Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. AI also maintains its internationally respected and standardized advocacy presence and jurisdiction over the world’s current 10million Stateless persons; 65.3million forcibly displaced persons and 21.3million refugees, totalling 96.6million persons (see UNHCR 2017).

Amnesty International monitors, too, conflict environments involving inter and intra State conflicts or armed conflicts within borders and armed conflicts beyond borders and evaluates the compliance or otherwise of the parties or combatants (government and its security forces and the armed opposition groups) with the Geneva Conventions or Laws of War of 1949 and its Protocols as well as other international rights and humanitarian laws and principles. In non war or non conflict situations, Amnesty International monitors the policies and conducts of government and its coercive agencies to ensure that they conform at all times with local (constitutional), regional and international human rights norms.

Amnesty International had in the past years particularly in the 1990s maintained a Section (Nigerian Section) in Nigeria.  It closed same due to unfriendly environment and other unbearable factors. But barely two years ago, AI returned to Nigeria and opened its office which is located at 10A, Usuma Street, Maitama, the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria. AI had in recent times beamed its advocacy searchlight on Nigeria and in the last two years, the internationally respected rights group had evaluated the present Federal Government’s handling of lawful assemblies and religious processions; insurgency and counter insurgency operations in the Northeast and handling of civilian populations in conflict areas. Others areas evaluated are torture, unlawful killings, extra judicial executions, enforced disappearances, unlawful arrests and detention without trial and forced evictions, etc.

We are therefore shocked and alarmed at the raging campaigns of calumny and State terror being unleashed on the respected international rights group by the agents of the present Federal Government of Nigeria headed by Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari. It is shocking too that the Government that parades professors of law and highly ranked civil rights activists as its officials, supporters or consultants can engage in this type of show of shame with its dire international diplomatic and relations consequences.  

The ongoing State terror and campaigns of calumny against the authorities of Amnesty International also expose the present Government’s gross illiteracy and ignorance on the workings of modern international relations and diplomacy which are strongly traditionalized in human rights and citizens’ sovereignty without borders. They further expose same as highly intolerant political leadership and gross and unrepentant rights abuser. The panicky response of the Buhari Administration by sponsoring the ongoing attacks against AI is a clear admission of guilt and un-readiness and unwillingness of same to make amends over its grossly poor human rights abuses.
It is recalled that this is not the first time under this Administration that such Yorean campaigns of calumny and State terror are being launched against AI and its likes. Some individuals and their groups had at one time or the other been hired and ferried to UK to make watery counter representations against the groups over its credible reports on Nigeria. There had been sponsored print and electronic media interviews, adverts and programs all designed to malign and lampoon AI over its credibly and well researched reports bordering on gross rights abuses in Nigeria or any part thereof.

Apart from the denial virus that hit the Federal Government of Nigeria and its Nigerian Army following issuance of AI reports, leprous and nonexistent groups like “Global Amnesty Watch” and “Global Peace & Rescue Initiatives (GOPRI)” have also been created using laptops, all for the purpose of terrorizing AI into fear and abandonment or recanting of its well researched reports. Hundreds of educated and uneducated street urchins have also been recruited, hired and commissioned to protest and picket the AI Nigerian office. Yet, the same Government that has consistently shown its gross intolerance to peaceful assemblies and democratic free speeches leading to its killing of over 1500 unarmed and defenceless regional and religious activists, did not turn its same killer arsenal against hired and sponsored anti AI protesters.


We call on the present Federal Government of Nigeria under Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari to withdraw its hired and sponsored street urchins and their laptop created groups off the Amnesty International office in Nigeria and stop any form of threats and campaign of calumny against the world’s respected international corporate personality. The Government must be reminded that it has an inexcusable duty under Section 14 (2) (b) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to protect Amnesty International, its staff and personnel in Nigeria at all times. Sponsoring and inciting hundreds of educated and uneducated street urchins against the world’s respected rights body is a serious threat to international peace and security and a clear attestation of its culpability in all gross rights abuses the same Government is being accused of perpetrating. It further darkens what remains of Nigeria’s image at regional and international levels.

Rather than beating about the bush by involving itself in this type of infamy and show of shame, the Buhari Administration must as a matter of inexcusability, investigate all the gross rights abuses raised in the AI Reports as well as the recent Special Report of Intersociety (Welcome To Bleeding Republic Of Nigeria: A Land Flowing With Blood & Tears). All those involved in the gross rights abuses must be fished out, dismissed from Service and prosecuted. Adequate compensations to the tune of $5Billion must be set aside for the compensation of identified group and individual victims of State crimes. Further State killings and Nomad Fulani Jihadist killings such as the latest butchery in Benue State must be halted and those responsible fished out and punished.

Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
Emeka Umeagbalasi, Board Chairman
Mobile Line: +2348174090052
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: www.intersociety-ng.org
Signed:
For: Southeast Based Coalition of Human Rights Organizations (SBCHROs)

1.       Comrade Aloysius Attah (+2348035090548)
For: Civil Liberties Organization, Southeast Zone

2.       Comrade Peter Onyegiri (+2347036892777)
For: Centre for Human Rights & Peace Advocacy

3.       Comrade Samuel Njoku (+2348039444628)
For: Human Rights Organization of Nigeria

4.       Engineer Rufus Duru (+2348037513519)
For: Global Rights & Development International

5.       Comrade Chike Umeh ( +2348064869601)
For: Society Advocacy Watch Project

6.       Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq. (+2348034186332)
For: Anambra Human Rights Forum

7.       Florence  Akubilo, Esq. (+2349025567114)
For: Southeast Good Governance Forum

8.       Jerry Chukwuokoro, PhD (+2348035372962)
For: International Solidarity for Peace & Human Rights Initiative

9.       Comrade Vincent Ezekwume (+2348171793911)
For: Civil Liberties Organization, Anambra State Branch



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Biafra News Team Monday, 13 March 2017 0

Executive Summary:

Introduction: This Special Report (Welcome to Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A Land Flowing with Blood  and Tears) is a compilation of widespread human rights abuses in Nigeria in the past 20 months of the  four-year tenure of the central Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari; covering 1st  June 2015 to 31st January 2017. The Report is majorly focused on Civil and Political Rights; which is one of the four internationally existing generations of human rights. These fundamental liberties include citizens’ constitutional and legal rights as well as regional and international rights provided in Sections 33-46 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and several regional and international legal and rights instruments or treaties accepted and assented to by the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Civil and Political Rights are also regarded by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 amended in 2011 as living rights or justiciable; which legally and constitutionally means that they are governmentally observable, protectable and enforceable, and can be compensated in the event of their breaches. This is by virtue of Section 46 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. Those holding judicial, executive and legislative offices in Nigeria are also mandatorily required in Section 13 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to conform to, observe and apply these constitutional liberties in discharge of their constitutional duties.

President M. Buhari’s military background and his grossly poor human rights antecedents including 20 months of his maximum military rulership (January 1984-August 1985) was critically assessed and compared with past 20 months of his present civilian Presidency in Nigeria.

Research Methodology: This Special Report was compiled by the Research Team of International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law headed by Emeka Umeagbalasi-a Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies with post graduate expertise in Peace & Conflict Studies. It was largely built on previous reports on security and human rights issues in Nigeria; issued by respected international rights organizations and research institutions such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), the Global Terrorism Index of the Institute for Economics and Peace; and the (Christian) Open Doors International, among others. Those reports were technically aggregated, congregated, studied and updated in this Special Report.

The Special Report was further built on previous publications of Intersociety and credible media reports on the subject matter by leading local and international print and web media. Intersociety also gathered reliable data and information from leading victim-groups such as IPOB, Shiite Muslim sect and the authorities of the ECWA Church and the Catholic Archdiocese of Kafanchan in Kaduna, etc. Data gathered were independently verified.

We also conducted series of interviews with accompanied legal certifications from members of some dead victims’ families and the shot and wounded victims or survivors. All the photos used in the photo segment of this Report were carefully verified and traced to the crime victims, crime scenes and crime perpetrators. In all, it is a hybrid based Special Report.

Various citizens’ constitutional and legal rights and safeguards in Nigeria as well as their regional and international counterparts which the Federal Republic of Nigeria willingly assented to and accepted to be bound by, were also studied and applied in the course of this Special Report. Pieces of useful information from security establishments and other agencies of the Government of Nigeria available at open sources were considered as well.

Executive Summary:  Welcome To Bleeding Republic of Nigeria: A Land Flowing With Blood & Tears; is a compilation of the State of Widespread Rights Abuses covering the past 20 months of the central civilian Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari or from 1st June 2015 to 31st January 2017. The present central Government of Nigeria headed by Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari was elected and sworn in on 29th May 2015 for a four-year term (May 29th 2015-May 29th 2019).

The Special Report is saddening but unique in that it found that regime atrocities, abuse of office and gross contempt for constitutionalism and human rights principles; which were widespread in 20 months of Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari (as he then was) military’s inglorious epoch or from January 1984-August 1985; have also become widespread in the past 20 months of his current civilian Presidency or from 1st June 2015- 31st January 2017.

Of the existing four generations of human rights locally and internationally, the civil and political rights; constitutionally tagged living rights or justiciable are the worst violated by the current civilian Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari. Our Report, which is divided into text and photo segments, empirically found that average of 550 defenceless and unarmed citizens were slaughtered, butchered or shot dead in each of the past 20 months of the Buhari’s civilian Presidency covering June 2015 to January 2017.

A total of over 11,000 criminal or unlawful deaths were also recorded in the said past 20 months. This is the highest in the history of democratic Nigeria; particularly under a non war situation. The most shocking part of it is that the central Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari and its security agencies particularly the Army, Police and Air Force are collectively responsible for about 52% or over 5700 while the Nomad Fulani and the Boko Haram terrorists accounted for the remaining 48% or over 5300 others.

Over 2000 Christian lives were also lost to Nomad Fulani Jihadists in Nigeria in 2016 alone, with at least 850 killed in Southern Kaduna while over 1200 others took place in Benue, Enugu, Taraba, Nasarawa and Plateau States, etc. Over 800 criminal deaths associated with killing of Christians took place in the last six months of 2015. Even the Buhari Administration through its National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and its Kaduna State counterpart-SEMA, had on their part, claimed that 376 persons were killed in Southern Kaduna between May and December 2016. They also labelled the killing of Christians by untouchable Nomad Fulani Jihadists as “communal clashes”.

In January 2017 alone, over 350 defenceless citizens lost their lives to wilful air bombing by the Nigerian Air Force, Pro Trump Rally killing by Nigerian Army and Nomad Fulani and Boko Haram Jihadism. The Buhari Administration’s warped report with mangled figures on Southern Kaduna Christian butcheries is contained here: http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/news/general/376-killed-in-southern-kaduna-in-6-months-report/183924.html.

Through custodial killings arising from torture and wilful custodial shootings, not less than 4000 criminal deaths may most likely have been recorded in the hands of Police SARS, SCIDs and the Army across the country in the said past 20 months; on average of 200 per month or six per State monthly. A clear case of custodial killings in Nigeria was the Ezu River saga of 19th  January 2013 in Anambra State of Nigeria where between 30 and 40 lifeless bodies strongly believed to be victims of Anambra State Police SARS extra judicial executions were found floating in Ezu River.

Another newest case is contained in the recent Amnesty International Special Report for 2016/7 in which it found that “not less than 240 civilians including 29 children and babies, aged between new born and five years, died in 2016 in the Nigerian Army detention custody at the Giwa Military Barracks in Maiduguri, Borno State and were secretly buried in Maiduguri’s cemetery by the Borno State Environmental Protection Agency staff”. Reference:http://sunnewsonline.com/29-children-211-others-die-in-military-cells-in-nigeria-amnesty/

Yet another case in point was the recent arrest of six operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Anambra State Police Command at Awkuzu: namely- Adolphosus Dimgba, Gabriel Imafidon, Chukwudili Oyenka, Pat Amadike, Usman Bala Hamza, Theodore Igiede and Amechi Ebere Okonkwo. The torture and murder culprits were arrested on IGP’s order for torture and murder in custody of Citizen Ejike Bob-Manuel on 16th February 2016. The deceased was arrested, detained, tortured and murdered in captivity following a business dispute with the mastermind, Mr. Jerome Aghachukwu; leading to a petition written to Nigeria Police Headquarters by the Joint Legal Action Aids (JLAA) led by Barr Kingsley Ughe.

The Nigerian Army, the Nigeria Police Force and the Nigerian Air Force and their chiefs and commander-in-chief; on the other hand, are collectively, vicariously and individually responsible for the State murder of at least 1750 unarmed and defenceless citizens between 30th August 2015 and 31st January 2017 including the Rann IDP bombing by the Nigerian Air Force that killed at least 236 defenceless citizens on 17th January 2017. These State killings did not include 240 persons including 29 children and babies that died in the custody of the Nigerian Army in 2016 in Borno State, as exclusively reported by Amnesty International. When added, the number of State murders under the Buhari Administration in the said past 20 months will be 1990 deaths.

Other documented State murders contained in this Special Report are the mass killing of 1120 defenceless Shiite Muslims and massacre of at least 270 unarmed Pro Biafra Campaigners in the periods between August 2015 and January 2017 including 15-20 unarmed citizens or more killed at the Pro Trump Solidarity Rally on 20th January 2017. Over 870 members and supporters of IPOB and Shiite Muslim sect were also terminally shot and wounded by Nigerian security forces in the said past 20 months.

Three genocides (i.e. mass killing in droves of unarmed and defenceless members of a particular ethnic or religious group whether in war or non war situations) and two war crimes have also been recorded in the past 20 months of the Buhari Government or between June 2015 and January 2017. They are Shiite Muslim Procession Genocide, Pro Biafra Campaign Genocide and Southern Kaduna Christian Genocide; as well as two war crimes involving the Rann IDP Bombing and the Maiduguri Giwa Military Barracks Custody Killing of 240 Civilians (including 29 children and babies).
The number of citizens arrested and dumped into several months of detention without trial in the past 20 months of the Buhari’s Government is also alarming and shocking. The authorities of SSS are substantially responsible for this aspect of gross abuse of the citizens’ constitutional and legal rights; likewise muzzling of press freedoms and democratic free speeches and reckless disobedience to court orders and other judicial pronouncements. Incidences of harassment and intimidation of independent journalists and bloggers have also gone viral in the past 20 months of the Buhari Government in Nigeria. In all, the state of human rights violations under the Buhari civilian Government is horribly and alarmingly widespread.

Recommendations:

1. International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety), is calling on the    central civilian Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari/Federal Government of Nigeria to end the senseless and wicked massacre by both security forces and armed opposition groups particularly the Nomad Fulani and Boko Haram Jihadists of unarmed and defenceless citizens individually and massively, as well as other forms of regime atrocities that had pervaded the Buhari Administration in the past 20 months. There should also be total policy reversal including unconditional release of all political detainees and end to policy of militarism and militarization.

2.  The Buhari Administration/Federal Government of Nigeria should set aside $5Bliion for adequate compensation of over 1750 victims of State murders and 4000 victims of Police SARS/Army custodial killings as well as not less than 2800 unarmed Christians killed by Nomad Fulani Jihadists between June 2015 and January 2017.

The $5Billion State Crime Victims Compensation Scheme, which will be subject to 50% upward review every five years if unpaid; should be divided into four categories of: $1Billion to members or families and group-victims (IPOB) of over 270 slain members of IPOB and other Pro Biafra Campaigners; $500Million to over 370 terminally shot and injured Pro Biafra Campaigners; $1.5Billion to 1120 slain members of the Shiite Muslims and their IMN as well as  $500Million for 400 of their members terminally shot and wounded.

The sum of $500Million should be set aside by the Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria through its Ministry of Police Affairs for compensation of 4000 victims who may most likely have been slain in the past 20 months, by way of custodial killings arising from torture and wilful custodial shootings. This should be done on the basis of proper identification of dead victims by their immediate families and lawyers. The remaining $1Billion should be paid by the Buhari Government to the families and the churches of over 2800 dead Christians who are victims of the Nomad Fulani Jihadism in Nigeria since June 2015.

This is on account of the Buhari Government’s vicarious culpability, by way of aiding and abetting. As the national grand patron of “the Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria”, President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to have allowed personal sentiments to becloud his official position as the father of the country and protector of every citizen irrespective of his or her ethno-religious and age background or identity. Till date, no investigations into the killing of Christians have been carried out and concluded and the perpetrators are still on the prowl.

3. The Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria must arrest and prosecute all the perpetrators of the above mentioned heinous crimes perpetrated between June 2015 and January 2017. Those to be arrested and prosecuted include the current Army Chief of Staff, the former IGP of Police (August 2015-May 2016), the current IGP of Police, the Chief of Air Staff, the Chief of Defence Staff,  the GOC 82nd Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu (from August 2015 to May 2016); the Commanders of 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, 144 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Aba (August 2015 to May 2016 or till date) and current Commander of the 6th Division of the Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt; as well as Major M.I. Ibrahim of the Nigerian Military Police, who militarily led the May 29th and 30th Biafra Heroes Day massacre in Nkpor, Onitsha and Asaba.

Others are Commissioners of Police of Anambra and Abia States (August 2015 to May 2016), the Aba Area Commander (between January and February 2016), the Deputy Commissioner of Police for Operations in Anambra State between December 2015 to May 2016 (now CP Johnson Babatunde Kokomo), etc; as well as the present Governors of Anambra, Abia and Kaduna States(for aiding the State security agencies and criminal entities in the mass killing of unarmed and innocent Pro Biafra Campaigners and Christian/Shiite faithful; respectively in their States).

The principal officers of the “Miyatti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria” should be arrested and charged for manslaughter as well as immediate proscription of the registered organization and presidential declaration of same as a terrorist organization. Where the Buhari Government/Federal Government of Nigeria fails in 90 days to bring to justice the above mentioned public office holders and their sub commanders and foot perpetrators, as well as named non State actor perpetrators; then the international community and other international non State actors particularly the ICC, the UN Security Council and African regional criminal courts, etc should act without further delays in accordance with the International Law’s Principles of Complementarity and No Impunity.

These can be done through establishment of the UN Special Criminal Court for Nigeria or through ICC or African Special Criminal Court for Nigeria or foreign countries’ municipal courts with international criminal and civil jurisdictions. Those covered by local constitutional immunities by virtue of their present political offices such as the perpetrator-President of Nigeria and the three named serving Governors should be internationally investigated and prosecuted for genocide or war crimes or crimes against humanity or community of same.

4.  The UK and other members of the European Union; the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, China, Brazil and India should raise a serious concern about gross or widespread rights abuses in Nigeria particularly the mass killing of unarmed and defenceless civilians by the Government of Retired Major Gen Muhammadu Buhari and its security forces as well as aiding and abetting of the mass killing of Christians and perpetration of other forms of regime atrocities.

Beyond raising serious diplomatic concerns, the leaders of the countries under reference should also consider placing travelling ban on those named serving public office holders including the immediate past Inspector General of Police as well as other serving political appointees who are complicit. Placing embargo on supply of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALWs) used by the Buhari Government to perpetrate the widespread rights abuses and other regime atrocities should also be seriously considered by leaders of the named countries; likewise tying the release of $672mIllion recently pledged at Oslo Summit for humanitarian assistance in the insurgency infested Northeast to mandatory arrest and prosecution of all those mentioned. The redemption of the humanitarian pledge by world leaders to the Government of Nigeria must also be tied to the payment of $5Billion compensations by Government of Nigeria to immediate families and associates of the State and its surrogates’ crime victims under reference.

5.  The Government of Muhammadu Buhari/Federal Government of Nigeria should re-organize and restructure Nigeria’s security establishments and their headships and revert to the constitutional geopolitical equity and fairness in accordance with Section 14 (3) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution. To this effect, there shall be mass sack of the present heads and strategic commanding officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces including the Army, SSS and the Police so as to rid them of their present gross lopsidedness and northern Muslim grips and dominations; which have brought about the present grossly lopsided citizens’ policing representation and protection along divisive ethno-religious lines. 

Signed:
For: International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law (Intersociety)
·         Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist & Graduate of Security Studies)
 Board Chairman
 Mobile Line: +2348174090052
 Email: emekaumeagbalasi69@gmail.com

·          Obianuju Joy Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Mobile Line: + 2348180771506

·         Chinwe Umeche, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Mobile Line: +2347013238673

·         Grace Amarachi, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Public Security & Safety Advocacy Program
 Mobile Line: +2348130821493

·         Ndidiamaka C. Bernard, Esq., LLB, BL
Head, Int’l Justice & Human Rights Program
Mobile Line: +2348067557308


















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Biafra News Team Saturday, 18 February 2017 0
Buhari, as a dictator in the 80s, and as the President now. It is an ancestral duty to fight such living dictators until, one-by-one, they expire to embrace their graves. Then, their victims shall grace their wakes with crocodile tears and melodious sounds of the “Amazing Grace.”

By Anthony Obi Ogbo

I know that Africans do not like discussing death until it strikes like a lightening. But at all times, we must not be shy to discuss death because it is an inevitable dilemma waiting on every individual.  Now a tenant in an obscure hospital in London, Nigeria’s president Muhammadu Buhari, whether dead or alive, is approaching the closing times of his life. Rumors of his death have clouded the social media with unsubstantiated news and analysis, but his camp is not just communicating. They are not talking the way they should. They have babbled with explanations about diagnosis and treatment of this Dictator, and at a time claimed he was just on a vacation.

The moment of death is inescapable. Based on Buhari’s age and shabby vigor, the exit of this dictator should be expected. In fact, he might have gone into an endless sleep to face his final judgment. Then, Nigerians would have another opportunity to start all over to structure a constructive path in their quest for national unity. Likewise, he might still be alive; then Nigerians would continue in their dreadful hardship.

Buhari was groomed in an uncultivated military community, where the powers and rattling sounds of AK-47 subjugate constitutional system. But the Nigerian army, as bad as it may look, has within her commands, some exceptionally brilliant soldiers who could speak the official language of defense. These good men, unfortunately are stifled out of service by a system where mediocrity outruns excellence; leaving behind a fragment of boneheaded officers unable to differentiate between a pipe bomb and beer can. Buhari represents this ugly culture; and this explains why a man who has no proof of High School Certificate could rise beyond the law, his country, and the entire masses.
What I actually do as part of my job is keep accurate records of how they live, terrorize their constituents, and eventually die like idiots. I do not empathize with their constituents because I am not in the emotional card-making business. I document and share their funerals, and compile deceitful eulogies by hypocrites that grace their horrific burial moments.
It is therefore an ancestral duty to fight such living dictators until, one-by-one, they expire to embrace their graves. Then, their victims shall grace their wakes with crocodile tears and melodious sounds of the “Amazing Grace.” For Buhari, this occasion is a matter of time; and he would be etched to the earth; where he would  torment the masses no more. Then, Nigeria shall become free, and the enslaved commonalities would regain their freedom and take their country back.

Just like any Dictator, Buhari is grinding toward the finishing line, with one foot on the ground and the other in the grave. But such is life – a merry-go-round with retributive surprises. It is interesting watching this man as he exits his physical being to resume an interminable sleep. Then he would question God on why He created the female sex; why He kept the oil in Delta; why He allowed IBB to remove him; why He created tribes other than the Fulanis; why He did not zone his death to the South;  and why the hell He wasn’t buried with that gigantic building called Aso Rock.

Dictators are nothing but self-made demigods tormenting a peaceful world. But to sickness and death, their wicked powers become innocuous and theatrical. Before you accuse me of mischievously advocating evil, you must be aware that I have nothing to do with how dictators die. My job is to report leaders; the good and the bad ones; how they rule; and how eventually, they are punished by their deeds through the vengeful Law of Karma.

I do not shoot Dictators because I do not have a gun, and have never owned a gun. I do not have the power to kill them, and would not wish them dead either; I do not give them ear infection; I don’ not give them cancer, and in general, I do not cause their afflictions.  What I actually do as part of my job is keep accurate records of how they live, terrorize their constituents, and eventually die like idiots. I do not empathize with their constituents because I am not in the emotional card-making business. I document and share their funerals, and compile those deceitful eulogies by hypocrites that grace their horrific burial moments.

But for sake of order of open trial, Buhari should be presumed dead until proven alive by his cohorts, who have dramatically denied the masses basic information about the presumably, Chief Executive.


♦ Anthony Obi Ogbo, Ph.D. is the publisher of Houston-based International Guardian, and the author of The Influence of Leadership

 Source 
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Biafra News Team Sunday, 29 January 2017 0
January 29, 2017


Public Enlightenment Series

THE HYPOCRISY IN SSS INVITATION TO APOSTLE JOHNSON SULEIMAN WHILE LEAVING OUT ZAHRA BUHARI, SULTAN OF SOKOTO, AND NASIR EL RUFAI.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) have viewed with disdain and as an act of hypocrisy, the invitation of Apostle Johnson Suleiman to State Security Services (SSS) Headquarters in Abuja on Monday, January 30th, 2017 by 10 am. The SSS who unilaterally and illegally assumed the name “Department of State Services (DSS),“ has invited Apostle Suleiman because he advised members of his church to exercise their UN-approved and inalienable fundamental human right of self-defence if attacked by Islamic terrorists. It is worthy to note that this invitation by the SSS came after the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, called for the arrest of Apostle Suleiman. 
We recall that in 2016, Weeklypostng.com reported a message from Zahra Buhari, then 21years old and daughter of Muhammadu Buhari, in which she stated as follows: “killing will keep going on, muslims who donts (sic) want to adhere to Muslims rules will be killed, christians will die until they turn muslims, biafrans is just a say (sic) dream, politcal oppositions must follow my daadys (sic) rule.“ We also recall that in 2016, the Sultan of Sokoto ordered Muslims in Nigeria to fight anyone trying to stop them practising Islam without giving details of what he meant by “trying to stop them.“
In a tweet in 2012, Mallam Nasir El Rufai stated as follows: “We will write this for all to read. Anyone, soldier or not, that kills the Fulani takes a loan repayable one day no matter how long it takes.“ We further remind the world that the public relations officer of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU),  Mr Yakubu Kuzamani, accused Mallam Nasir El Rufai of engaging in hate speech while El Rufai was speaking on an Aljazeera Television programme on Tuesday, 17th of January, 2017.

In all these three examples, the common thread is hate speech and incitement of Muslims against non-Muslims. But in all the three, none of the perpetrators of the hate speeches has been invited by the SSS. Then, why is Apostle Johnson Suleiman being singled out for investigation by the SSS? Why did the SSS not invite Zahra Buhari (now Mrs Zahra Indimi) for her hate speech? Why did the SSS not invite Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar  III, Sultan of Sokoto, for his hateful and inciting speech? Why has the SSS not invited Mallam Nasir El Rufai for his hate speech that was even announced by SOKAPU?
We are appalled that the National Assembly of Nigeria has not called the SSS to order as they engender tyranny and religious bigotry. Why will the National Assembly keep quiet as the SSS allow those with Islamic linkage to freely dish out hate speeches and incitements to commit violence while inviting Christians like Apostle Johnson Suleiman who resort to universally-acclaimed rights to self-defence? The indifference by Nigeria’s National Assembly is a key reason why Africa, in general, and the black race, in particular, are underdeveloped and filled with dictators and life-presidents.
It is also very worrisome that Theresa May and her British Government do not see anything wrong with the current persecution of Christians in Nigeria. This is the same Theresa May who spoke through Boris Johnson to plead for Christians implicated in the failed coup in Turkey. We also remind the world that it was the British that brought Anglicanism to Nigeria but is now working with Moslems to exterminate Christians. We also recall that Catholicism came from Rome (Italy), Pentecostalism and Baptist Mission came from the USA,  the Lutheran church came from Germany, and Presbyterian and Methodist missions came from Scotland. These countries have their Embassies/Missions in Nigeria but have all kept silent as Muslims go on a rampage against Christians, now culminating in the invitation of Apostle Johnson Suleiman to SSS Headquarters in Abuja for questioning and possible long-time detention.

With the silence of these countries, we are bound to ask if they are only interested in the money they make from church members in Christendom in Nigeria. Why must Muslims be the only people with the unfettered license to hate speech and violence?  Why is the British Government so intensely glued to Islam and highly supportive of their violent ways? What is is it in Islam that the British Government enjoys that they are always supporting Islamic countries but working against existing Judeo-Christian nations or those agitating for their nations such the  Biafrans? Why is the British Government so much in love and in bed with Islam and radical Islamism? Why will the  British Government, a supposedly Christian faith based Government, keep quiet and watch Apostle Johnson Suleiman railroaded into the SSS detention cell, come Monday, January 30th, 2017?
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) call upon humanity to prevail upon the British Government, who we all know dictate what happens in Nigeria, to stop their anti-Christian behaviour towards Christians in Nigeria and that they should request the SSS to call off the planned questioning and detention of Apostle Johnson Suleiman. If there are people that should be invited by the SSS with a view to questioning and detention for hate speeches, they are Zahra Buhari-Indimi, Sultan of Sokoto (Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III), and Mallam Nasir El Rufai. Doing otherwise is pure hypocrisy.

Analysis by:
Barrister Emma Nmezu       
Dr Clifford Chukwuemeka Iroanya

Spokespersons for IPOB
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