Biafra Day Celebration: Biafra feasible within one year if ~ Dokubo-Asari

Says Fulanisation agenda is real
•We’re one people regardless of languages – ADF
•Ojukwu, Effiong, Achuzia, others’ll forever be remembered for their great sacrifices – BNYL leader

By Chukwuemeka Chimerue and Ejike Ofoegbu - May 31, 2019


PATANI— FORMER leader of the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, cum founder of the Ijaw Peoples Movement, IPM, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has stated that the pursuit of the Biafra nationhood is feasible within one year if the people of the defunct Eastern region can come together to unite and forge a common front.

Asari who spoke on Thursday at the event commemorating the Biafra Heroes’ Remembrance Day in Patani Local Government Area of Delta State, said the people of Biafra was charged with atomic bomb which can explode any moment if the Nigerian state continued to oppress and take them for granted.

He, however, regretted that “some Biafrans were enjoying their slave status and not willing to breakaway from bondage,” adding that the Fulanisation agenda as revealed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo was real and that he was out to frustrate the move.

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According to him, “The only way you can be free is when you know you’re in bondage. Some of us have accepted that we want to be in this condition we find ourselves. Some of us have unconsciously accepted to be slaves; we devalue ourselves, we demarket ourselves.

“As we sit here, all of us, we’re dynamites, we’re nuclear bombs, we’re atomic bombs. If we explode, we’ll destroy a lot of things. We don’t know the capacity that is built inside us and that we can use to gain freedom for ourselves.

“If we start today, we give ourselves a timeline. In one year, we’ll achieve Biafra. It’s possible that within one year, we’ll achieve Biafra and suffering will no longer be there. And if all of us put our heads together and work together Biafra will come within one year.”

He added: “The Fulanisation agenda is real and you’re living in denial it would not happen if you don’t think so. But like I said before, it is very very real. That is what is going on now and by the special grace of God, we’ll stop them. As former president of IYC, now we’ve come out, you’ve seen the faces of those who have come out for this struggle and it will be successful, I assure you.”

Asari further stated that strategic plans are on the pipeline to mobilize his people from the Ijaw ethnic group, saying that though not all presently supports Biafra but with time, the narratives will change.

Also speaking at the event, president of the Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF, Prof. Uzodinma Nwala, stated that the people of the Eastern region were one people regardless of the different languages they speak.

The ADF President who was being represented by Comrade Chukwuemeka Mbah advised the people of the Eastern region to be reasonable, brave and wise and follow the right leader who would lead in the right direction, while thanking Dokubo-Asari for organizing and hosting the event

He said, “Our people, the entire East, are of one blood, the issue of language notwithstanding. God made different languages for people to communicate in one way or another but we’re all of one fresh. Most of us are beginning to think that we all are Igbos in our original geology.”

The ADF scribe thanked Asari for organizing the event which recorded people from different ethnic nationalities in the defunct Eastern region.

“The man, Asari has stood for justice. When our leader, Prof. Nwala told us about your discussion with him, we were very happy Sir, and we know, just as he said, our people’s eyes has begun to open and we also know that by the grace of the Almighty God who did not create us to become slaves, we must be free in this country.

“How God will do it, we do not know but it’s only that we need to be reasonable, brave and wise now especially when we have people who can give us the right direction. What I see here are people who are determined to see that peace and progress is established in this land, people who believe that our own people will not suffer what we suffered and so shall it be,” he asserted.

Also in his reaction, the nationwide leader of the Biafra Nation Youth League, BNYL, Comrade Princewill Richard, commended Biafrans for honouring the fallen heroes, even as he remembered late General Dim Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu and his second-in-command, Phillip Effiong for triggering the renewed agitation for Biafra’s sovereignty.

“I must commend all Biafrans for a successful remembrance of our heroes, I congratulate the Alaigbo Development Foundation, ADF and Ijaw Peoples Movement for the wonderful event which they organized, it is indeed a great honour to our fallen heroes.

“Ojukwu will forever be remembered for this great fight he started, for his boldness and his legacy, (Phillip) Effiong will be remembered for his courage and risk he took in the face of danger to ending the war which would have consumed us.

“I didn’t know why I first visited Ikot Ekpene on arrival from my one month trip yesterday, it was the spirit of Effiong’s patriotism having remembered the documentary showing him at Ikot Ekpene where he engaged the refugees after Nigeria airlines and artillery bombardment.

“Col. Joe Achuzia is late but even in his grave, Nigeria still fears him. I remember Chief Dozie Ikedife and Debe Ojukwu the first son of Chukwuemeka Ojukwu for their sacrifices in the renewed struggle, although they are dead but their works still speaks till tomorrow.

“Those who have paid the price with their lives in the renewed struggle are now our heroes past,” he submitted.

Senate Rejects FG’s Move To Downgrade Enugu International Airport

Nigerian Senate has asked the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Aviation not to consider downgrading the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu as a matter of urgency.

This was part of the resolutions reached by the lawmakers during plenary on Thursday after Senator Victor Umeh drew the attention of his colleagues to the decision to downgrade the airport.

Rather than going ahead with such a move, the Senate urged the government to rehabilitate the runway of the airport to ensure the safety of passengers and aircraft.

It also advised the government to take steps to complete the new terminal building of the Enugu International Airport and put it to use by local and foreign airlines.

The Senate resolved to urge the Federal Ministry of Aviation and its agencies to develop a water source from the nearby Ekulu River for the use of the airport.

It commended the Enugu State government for swiftly demolishing and ordering the relocation of Orie Emene Market.

The Senate was pleased that the state government speedily shut down the nearby abattoir and ordered the immediate removal of the broadcasting mast and other illegal structures on the approach of the airport.

Naira Marley Granted N2m Bail

In the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos today 30th May. The Court has granted bail to Naira Marley in the sum of N2million with two sureties in like sum.

Delivering a ruling on Thursday, Justice Nicholas Oweibo held that one of the sureties must be a public servant not less than grade level 10 in the Federal or State Civil Service.
The other surety must have a landed properly within the court’s jurisdiction and must be verified by the court.

He, thereafter, fixed the trial for October 22, 23, and 24, when the court comes back from her annual vacation.

Osun Election: Appeal Court Set Aside Judgement Which Voided Adeleke’s Eligibility

The PDP governorship candidate in the Osun State election Senator Adeleke has won in a Court of  Appeal challenging his disqualification by falsification of WAEC result.

In a unanimous judgment of the appeal court delivered by Justice Peter Agim on Thursday, the appellate court set aside the judgment of the lower court.

Justice Agim held that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to have entertained the suit in the first place because it was filed outside the 14 days envisaged by the law to file a pre-election suit.

Justice Agim said another reason why the judgment of the lower court is a nullity is because the judgment was delivered 209 days after the course of action was filed is outside the 180 days envisaged by law for a judgment in a pre-election matter to be written and delivered.

The appellate court also held that Justice Othman lacked territorial integrity to have heard the suit in the first place because a high court in the FCT cannot seat over a pre-election matter that has to do with the governorship election in Osun State.

The court also held that it was a gross miscarriage of the appellant’s right to fair hearing for the lower court not to have considered all the documents and facts placed before it before reaching a decision that the lawmaker falsified his educational qualifications.

The court also held that it is curious that the lower court abandoned the evidence it asked for from WAEC and not considering the said documents. This is a wrong approach.

Justice Agim, in conclusion, said the appeal succeeds and is upheld. He set aside the judgment of the lower court delivered by Justice Othman.

The first and second respondent was also ordered by the court to pay N3million to Senator Adeleke as cost, Channels reports.

WATCH: Boko Haram Releases New Video Showing Hostages Captured From Nigerian Army

Boko Haram releases mind blowing new video Showing hostages captured from Nigerians Army.
This is another national army in country .

Watch

The question now stands.
Has Boko Haram been defeated?

BREXIT: Theresa May Resigns

The British PM today full of regrets for not being able to accomplish the will of the Brits. The PM this morning disclosed that she has official tendered her resignation letter to the Queen.
She will hold on until another PM is elected.

To watch the full speech, click the link  https://t.co/eg4ElQMXVR

JUSTICES CAUGHT IN THE ACT

BY Oseghale Erahodu

An unsavoury dinner has just taken place in Aso Rock Villa. The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Mohammed, was caught on camera in a dinner session with President Muhammadu Buhari. The CJN had a full retinue of Supreme and Appeal Court justices, including members of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal at the dinner. They were at the Villa to break the Ramadan fast with the president.
If you ask me what my grouse with this high-powered dinner is, I will quickly retort by telling you that there is something distasteful about the meal. It is sour in every sense of the word because of the secrecy that was brought to bear on it.

Before their lordships were feted at this presidential dinner, some other high-ranking government officials, including the leadership of the legislative arm of government, had had similar dinners with Mr. President. But there is a difference. The dinner for the other stakeholders was in the public domain. They were announced to the Press. The public was very much in the know. But that was not the case with that of their lordships. Theirs was kept under wraps. It took some kind of whistle-blowing for some of us to know about this meal that has all the trappings of compromise.
Why were their lordships ferreted into Aso Rock and treated to a sumptuous evening without Nigerians being put in the know? That is the question that is begging for answer.

Now, let us go into the substance of the matter. I have a problem with this dinner because of the issue we have on our hands. The Nigerian judiciary is on trial because of the 2019 presidential elections. The received impression in many homes in Nigeria is that the election in question was won by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). President Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is largely believed to be holding a stolen mandate. It is this disputed outcome of the election that Atiku and his party, the PDP, have gone to court to challenge.
But an issue as testy as this cannot be resolved by a corrupt and compromised judiciary. The independence of the judiciary, the world over, is almost taken for granted. The judiciary is the last hope of the common man. It is the bastion of democracy. It is expected that the judiciary will stand firm and courageous when democratic institutions are being abused and trampled upon by corrupt politicians.
Not too long ago, the judiciary in Kenya, an East African country, made the world proud when its Supreme Court upturned the result of the 2017 presidential election in the country owing to widespread electoral malpractices. Since that courageous step was taken in Kenya, the world has been holding the Kenyan judiciary aloft as the beacon of hope for democracy in Africa, nay in the world. The judiciary in Nigeria may not have attained this enviable height, but Nigerians are hoping that our courts would, one day, help to right monumental wrongs. This is where we stand in Nigeria of today.

It was on the strength of this delicate situation that Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the President of the Court of Appeal who also assumed the chairmanship of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, was asked to recuse herself from the trial because it is believed that she is an interested party in the case. I will not bother you here with the details of the assumed and presumed weaknesses of Justice Bulkachuwa in this matter. Suffice it to say that she has since recused herself even though she did so in a pretensious manner. Our hope is that the other Justices on the panel and whoever that will take over from Bulkachuwa will do justice in this matter without fear or favour.
But we are constrained to say that members of the presidential election petition tribunal have started on a disappointing note. Their ruling that there was not enough reason for Justice Bulkachuwa to recuse herself from the case is bizarre. How they decided to ignore judicial precedents and decided cases in this matter beats the imagination. Is this their skewed judgment a foretaste of what to expect from them in the case before them? We hope it is not. Nigerians are still waiting for them to dispense justice in a manner that will not make our judiciary a laughing stock.

You can now appreciate my agony when the matter which we are trying to resolve at the Appeal Court level is being entrenched at the Supreme Court. It must be noted that Justice Tanko Mohammed was appointed in controversial circumstances. He was chosen to replace Justice Walter Onnoghen, the deposed CJN who Buhari suspended in circumstances that were less than decent. Analysts have since linked Onnoghen's deposition to the presidential election case we have on our hands. All the talk about non declaration of assets by the former CJN was bunkum and a mere afterthought.
Given this set-up, it will be most unconscionable for Justice Tanko Mohammed to do anything that will throw him open to suspicion. Since he is believed to be the president's special nominee, he must tread with caution. He must be seen to be an impartial arbiter who will not be compromised by sticky meals.

The fact that the presidential dinner under reference took place in secret is worrisome. The impression it conveys is that the concealed meal may be one of the sessions that will be put in place to compromise the justices, particularly the CJN in the ongoing presidential election petition trials. The development is most reprehensible, to say the least. It sends uncomfortable signals to the watching world.

Justice Mohammed must retrace his steps. He must also watch his back. He must bear in mind that it will be imperative that he recuses himself from the case if he cannot maintain the neutrality expected of him. Nigeria must overcome a compromised and corrupt judiciary which cannot save the country from itself. The ongoing presidential election petition will be a case to end all cases. Our lordships must watch what they do because the world is watching.

That is why I shudder at the fact that their lordships did not see anything wrong with the secrecy that attended their outing. Considering the fact that other dinners that held before theirs were publicized, their lordships should have spared a moment to ask why theirs was made a top secret.
Circumspection is paramount here because of the case before them. They must realise that they are being looked up to resolve many of the thorny issues that the 2019 presidential election has thrown up. A cavalier disposition such as the one Tanko Mohammed and his entourage displayed in the instant case will not serve anyone's purpose in this matter. They should come off it and stay guided.

OSEGHALE, A freelance journalist writes from Benin City.