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Freedom: Nnamdi Kanu Agrees to Abide by FG’s Terms and Conditions
Incarcerated leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), Nnamdi Kanu, has agreed to abide by any condition the Federal government would give for his release from custody.
Leading South East senators to a meeting with the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi on Wednesday to demand Kanu’s release, the Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, said that he had already met with the IPoB leader at the headquarters of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Abaribe, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said he is optimistic that the AGF would persuade the government to show compassion, and order Kanu’s release.
He argued that the continued detention of the IPoB leader is responsible for the rising level of insecurity and agitations in the South East region.
According to him, unless Kanu is released, social and economic activities within the region would remain stagnant.
The meeting between the lawmakers and the AGF came barely one day after the governors from the South East region resolved to approach President Bola Tinubu to beg for Kanu’s freedom.
Earlier, about 50 members of the House of Representatives from various parts of the country had urged President Tinubu to free the detained IPoB leader.
The representatives, who identified themselves as “Concerned Federal Lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East”, urged President Tinubu to direct the AGF to invoke Section 174 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, to terminate the terrorism-related charge that is pending against Kanu before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.
Kanu was first arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015 upon his return to the country from the United Kingdom.
On April 25, 2017, Justice Binta Nyako granted him bail on health ground, after he had spent about 18 months in custody.
Upon the perfection of the bail conditions, he was on April 28, 2017, he released from the Kuje prison.
However, midway into the trial, the IPoB leader escaped from the country after soldiers invaded his country home at Afara Ukwu Ibeku in Umuahia, Abia State, an operation that led to the death of some of his followers.
Abaribe, who initially stood as his surety, alongside two others, subsequently applied to the court to be allowed to withdraw from the case.
Not satisfied with Abaribe’s claim that he was not aware of the whereabouts of the defendant, the trial court ordered him to forfeit the N100 million he deposited as bond to secure Kanu’s bail.
Meanwhile, Kanu was later re-arrested in Kenya on June 19, 2021 and extraordinarily renditioned back to the country by security agents on June 27, 2021.
Following the development, the trial court, on June 29, 2021, remanded him in custody of DSS, where he has remained till date.
On April 8, 2022, the court struck out eight out of the 15-count charge that Federal government preferred against him, on the premise that they lacked substance.
On October 13, 2022, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal ordered Kanu’s immediate release from detention, and quashed the charge against him.
Dissatisfied with the decision, the Federal government took the matter before the Supreme Court, and persuaded the appellate court to suspend the execution of the judgment, pending the determination of its appeal.
While deciding the appeal last December 15, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the appellate court, and gave the Federal government the nod to try the IPoB leader on the subsisting seven-count charge.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority announced today that the inquiry into rape allegations against French footballer Kylian Mbappé has been closed due to a lack of sufficient evidence to proceed.
This is according to multiple reports on Thursday morning.
The allegations had drawn international attention, casting a shadow over the football star’s career.
Mbappé, who had consistently denied the allegations, has yet to make an official statement regarding the decision
His legal team had previously emphasised his commitment to due process.
Mbappe was “linked to rape investigation in Sweden” and that he intended to reserve any explanations for the Swedish justice system “if necessary,” according to his lawyer, Marie-Alix Canu-Bernard.
“He prioritises providing his explanations, if required, to the Swedish judiciary,” Canu-Bernard told AFP, while strongly condemning “media allegations suggesting that Kylian Mbappé had commented on the events of his trip to Stockholm.”
The case, which began earlier this year, involved accusations stemming from an alleged incident in Stockholm. The prosecutor’s decision not to press charges marks the end of months of scrutiny and speculation.
The leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has lashed back at Vice President Kashim Shettima over the latter’s reaction to her comments about Nigeria.
Badenoch was born in the UK in 1980 to Nigerian Yoruba parents.
Badenoch, who attained age 16 in Nigeria before departing the country for the UK where she was elected Conservative Party’s leader, described Nigeria as a nation brimming with thieving politicians and insecurity.
However, Shettima, while speaking at the 10th Annual Migration Dialogue at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, December 9, 2024, accused Badenoch of “denigrating her country of origin” with her remarks.
The vice-president listed influential people whose families had migrated to other countries, commending former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as a “brilliant young man who never denigrated his nation of ancestry.”
Reacting on Wednesday, Badenoch lashed back at Shettima, saying she doesn’t do “PR for Nigeria”.
Her spokesperson, as the Tory leader, according to UK Express, said: “Kemi is not interested in doing Nigeria’s PR; she is the Leader of the Opposition in the UK.
“She tells the truth; she tells it like it is; she isn’t going to couch her words. She stands by what she said.”
A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has urged President Bola Tinubu to reduce the price of petrol to N300 per litre, noting that it would enable Nigerians to celebrate the festive season.
He also said the party will overcome its current challenges before the 2027 elections, noting that the ambition of an individual should not be higher than the party’s interest.
Speaking on the need for a reduction in petrol price at a press conference in Lagos, the PDP leader said the reduction should commence immediately.
George said: “What am I suggesting is that by the 15th or the middle of this month, President Tinubu, if he really believes that these Nigerians voted him into power, it is time to give back to them.
“There are two months in any calendar year that are very important months. Whether you are a Christian, a Muslim, an atheist, or a traditionalist, it is common and it is all over the world. The months of December and January are the most important months.
“From the middle of December, at least to the end of January, the cost of petrol should be reduced to N300 per litre. The government can absorb the losses.
“With this, you will be sending a lot of messages of happiness across the tribes and homes. Everybody in Nigeria will be happy because it will positively impact this period of the year.
“It is a challenge and he can do it. If Madam First Lady could donate N1 billion to a university, she could also donate into the coffers to bear this cost. What’s wrong? So that everybody will be able to sleep well with N300 per litre across the board.
“So by the end of January, in the meantime, the prayers, the happiness, the impact of that will drive people up. And the Almighty God will answer our prayers. We need this in this December and January to put a smile on the faces of people.
“Who is the Minister of Petroleum? So he has a singular effort and if he really looks at these cuts in fuel price across all political parties, all human beings, all Nigerians, he will see the joy in them because the cost of items will crash.”
He said there is no organization anywhere in the world that is not riddled with crisis.
He said this at an interactive session in Lagos.
“I call our party (PDP) the Iroko because the party didn’t emerge from anywhere. It is entrenched in our constitution. Section 7 (3c), of the PDP constitution states that there will be and there must be and there shall be zoning and rotation of party positions and elective offices.
“Everything that had been in the South must go to the North. Everything that is in the North must come to the South. So that was what drove some of us because this is justice, equity, and fairness.
“That’s what made some of us say, I will join politics. We were the first to be elected in 1999. The first were appointed the managers.
“They handed over to us these procedures and these doctrines, so suddenly human manipulation came because someone wants to be president.
“So your ambition is now higher than the corporate ambition of everybody. Who the hell are you? And because it’s been going from generation to generation, I’m happy I’m still alive. We can talk about it.
“What they handed over to us, we are telling them, this is what they handed over that made the party to be stable. We will tell ourselves some serious old truths. We messed up ourselves with the manipulation. It started with Ayu,” the party chieftain added.
