Author: The Nation

When ex-Presidential aide, Reno Omokri said Nnamdi Kanu’s mouth will kill him not many Nigerians took him seriously. Omokri must have thought he was being predictive or prophetic but he never knew he was attempting to prevent a fractured pottery from falling; it did not matter. Even as at the time the ex-presidential aide made the glaring prediction, Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has proven to be a disaster that happened long ago. The only thing that would have prevented the disgrace he faces today was if his mother had miscarried at his conception. Short of that the IPOB leader was born destined to end in infamy.

Interestingly, Omokri is someone known for his pointless ripostes; he comments on issues that even a mentally limited person will be wise to keep quiet over. From all indications, he seems to know Kanu better than any other Nigerian, kindred spirit in the business of irresponsible loquaciousness. But it all ends there. The spin doctor is not in the business of sending young people to confront military Armored Personnel Carriers with crude weapons. That is suicide mission, the kind Kanu has committed to sending his people on in the recent years that he has been in the business of extorting his kinsmen with a fraudulent claim of working to restore the defunct Biafra republic.

Had Kanu remained in the United Kingdom and not returned to Nigeria in October of 2015, he might perhaps have retained the aura of a charismatic leader that once surrounded him. In between changing adult diapers for his charges as social care worker, Kanu would have been able to keep running the usual circuits, like the Igbo World Congress of September 2015 where he made his “we need guns and we need bullets” pitch, which he used to shaft gullible Igbos out of their money. He would have by now been able to offset the same London mortgage he was in a hurry to pay off.

But that is not the dramatic Kanu way. He possibly thought his rants were not being heard loud enough so he had to move closer home to be escorted straight into the slammer. Contrary to his earlier rants, he was arrested and kept in captivity and Nigeria did not burn. In fact, he had to regularly throw tantrums during court appearances for him to remain relevant in the news in a country where it became apparent that he was stale news. It was under such irrelevant condition that he morosely accepted to be let out on bail, by the same government he claimed not to recognize, to attend to his failing health – it turned out he never attended to his health because there were no indication that he sought psychiatric help after his release. His braggadocio ended with him abandoning his so called comrades in jail while he pranced about town receiving obeisance from misguided followers.  Thus end the season one of how Nnamdi Kanu’s mouth will kill him.

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Perhaps in a bid to create the impression that his rants about securing a Biafra republic for his deluded followers, Kanu violated every bit of his bail conditions and did so much damage to the Igbo cause between April and September 2017 before fleeing like the common criminal that he is. In that space of time he managed to antagonize other ethnic nationalities with his uncouth language to the point that quit notices were being issued to Igbos to leave parts of the country. In the referenced period, he managed to get more Igbo sons killed than anyone thought was possible – he sold them the dummy that they Biafra has been recognized by foreign interest to the point where he inspected a guard of honour mounted by comical looking IPOB members, which left one to query if mental illness can be contagious.

He bragged so much about possessing caches of firearms and even nuclear warheads, which took on some air of credibility given the fund raising he had done at the Igbo World Congress. We went on to then threaten that IPOB has the capacity to shut down the system such that there would be no general elections if his group did not get referendum. That declaration that there will be no election in Igboland and a growing belligerence with criminality on the part of his members brought down Operation Python Dance II, a training drill by the Nigerian Army, upon the south-east. The brainwashed IPOB members that attacked the troops taking part in the exercise in the false belief that it was the start of Biafra War 2 where shocked to discover that while Kanu had firearms stashed away in his father’s house he did not have enough to take on that single detachment of the army; they must have been supremely confounded that the whole money raised for him was not spent on weapons. (More surprise awaited them when they discovered that Kanu places the death of his family dog, Jack, was more painful than the human IPOB members that died in the confrontation with the military).

Kanu fled the military response to his organization’s provocations. He might have remained a hero had he continued to remain in hiding since there was a rising cult following of the Biafra leader who sacrificed himself in pursuit of a separatist agitation that failed before it was conceived. But the myth of a martyred IPOB leader dissipated with the realization that Kanu was somewhere in Ghana eating peppered ‘suya’ when his followers were still mourning the death of loved ones that he sent to their early graves. That sighting was treated as a conjecture for a long time until Kanu surfaced almost one year later at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. There is something wrong on too many levels for a dead leader to surface to share in the joy of the living. Not everyone wants a living martyr.

It was the season during which he somehow managed to upgrade IPOB into a terrorist organization that was proscribed by government, effectively ruling out the prospect of the organization being able to drive the discourse about securing a better deal for Igbos in the modern day Nigeria. The curtain fell on season two of how Nnamdi Kanu’s mouth will kill him and how it has killed the Igbo nation.

Whoever scripted Season Three of how Nnamdi Kanu’s mouth will kill him should never be forgiven for the very fact that it covered a period that destroyed the Igbos’ political fortunes in the country. He emerged from hiding to galvanize the south-east against registering to vote. He declared a boycott of the 2019 polls and aggressively propagated that message only to lift the boycott a few days to the elections, and secretly at that such that his people are holding the sloppy end of the stick as things stand today. He projected his hallucination unto others and created the myth of Jibrin of Sudan, claiming that President Buhari has died and has been replaced by an impostor look-alike. His opposition challenger, Atku Abubakar became a Cameroonian in Kanu’s hallucination, which prompted some people to question why the authorities in the United Kingdom are yet to commit him to a care home.

Kanu ranted so much that it became difficult to keep track of the issues he talked about owing to the degenerative psychological breakdown he is suffering from.  It became inevitable that the third season of his show was ending on a disastrous note as people learnt to focus on more important and developmental issues instead of being mired in barely intelligent expositions of the IPOB leader. The curtain fell on the third season with the world remembering Kanu as basket case.

The fourth season is unfolding and it has proven to be the disaster of the three previous seasons rolled into one for Kanu. His source of funding has been exposed as the extensive network of scammers and fraudsters that were indicted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States. Curiously, shortly before their indictment went public, Kanu had unleashed IPOB upon Igbo political leaders – a former Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu was the first to have a taste of what Kanu’s vision of Biafra was meant to be. The senior politician was beaten up in Nuremberg, Germany where he had gone to celebrate a festival that is sacred to the Igbos. The outrage that greeted this sacrilege did nothing to deter Kanu and IPOB to retrace their steps. He instead threatened to attack more Igbo leaders.

Unfortunately for Kanu, the Igbos are not helpless neither are their leaders unaware of what to do. Without any prompting from these leaders, many Igbo youth groups have requested for Kanu and those in the Diaspora that share his idea of vitriol and violence – laced engagement should be returned home for treatment. One can easily guess that the treatment they have in mind is some extended stay in Kuje Prison, especially since the IPOB leader is a fugitive from justice. For running his mouth to incite IPOB militants against Igbo leaders, which provoked the attack in Germany, something larger than a python is now chasing after Kanu. The entire Igbo nation is now angry that Kanu overstepped his bounds; they want his head for desecrating the highly revered Igbo tradition. This is Season Four still loading, let’s wait to see how lower this scoundrel will sink in this iteration before his mouth finally buries him as predicted by Reno Omokri.

Abiodun a public analyst wrote from University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate for the 2019 general election, Alhaji Mahmood Sani, has regained freedom from kidnappers, who held him for six days.

Sani was kidnapped along the Kaduna-Abuja Road when he was travelling to Zamfara State.

The Nation gathered that family and friends contributed N4 million to secure his freedom.

Recounting his experience to our reporter in Minna, Sani said he was on his way from Bida in Niger State to Zamfara State when he and his driver were stopped some kilometres to Kaduna State and were taken into the bush by gunmen.

“By the time we got to Dikko junction, it was already getting late, but I told my driver to drive to Kaduna so that we could spend the night there and proceed to Zamfara the next day.

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“Some kilometres to Kaduna, in-between two police checkpoints, some people waved us to stop and when we did, we were dragged out of the car and taken into the bush.

“We spent about six days inside the bush before we were released after the payment of N4 million. The ransom was initially set at N400million, but after negotiation, it was reduced to N4million, which was raised by family, friends and well- wishers.”

The governorship candidate, who did not speak much about his experience in the bush with his abductors, described his experience as very traumatic and unpalatable.

“We were beaten up. I still have bruises on my body. The experience was not palatable at all; it was a very bitter experience that I do not wish anybody to experience.

“Imagine seeing people brandishing AK47 guns at all time, threatening to kill me if the ransom was not paid. The experience was very traumatic that I do not want to speak about it.”

Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Ondo State Command, have paraded suspects for crimes such as cyber fraud, threat to life, obtaining by false pretence, cultism and others.

At a news briefing in Akure yesterday, the state Commandant of the corps, Christiana Abiakam-Omanu, said a syndicate of Nigerians in Oman were suspected to have obtained money by false pretence.

She said an accomplice to the suspects based in Nigeria, Akinlosotu Emmanuel, has been arrested, while others are being trailed by NSCDC officials.

Abiakam-Omanu said: “Efforts are being made to repatriate the notorious foreign based suspects, Oladipupo Paulina and Shipe Alaba.”

The Nation gathered that another syndicate involved in Internet love scam, targeting middle-aged women, had been arrested by specially trained officers of the corps.

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An undergraduate member of the gang, Giftency Oshafa, as well as Bella Avwerosuo have been arrested and are assisting in investigation, it was learnt.

The commandant said: “So far we have deduced through our investigation that numerous bank accounts are being used by the syndicate. They are undergoing forensic analysis.

“Another deadly gang, who posed as traditionalists with spiritual ability to facilitate money rituals for their victims, are in our custody.

“They have swindled their victims of huge sum of money, blackmailing them.”

She said at the end of investigation, they would be charged to court.

The commandant said: “There is no hideout for those involved in criminal activities. NSCDC Ondo Command is committed to ensuring safety of lives and property.”

The Social Development Secretariat (SDS) in Abuja has exposed and apprehended Mrs. Chioma Anyima for allegedly assaulting her 12-year-old housemaid, Chinyere.

The incident happened at Dei-Dei in Bwari Area Council of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Our correspondent reports that the SDS apprehended Chioma, a mother of two and wife to a lawyer, following complaints by neighbours to FCT Call Centre, which the SDS responded to by rescuing the girl.

SDS Secretary Hajiya Safiya Umar, who described as unacceptable the molestation of the girl, who is also a babysitter, said she was rescued to save her life.

She said: “We got the information from a concerned Nigerian. If we do not rescue the girl, she may be killed by the woman, because she does what she wants to do, and the husband does not say anything.

“Nobody talks or intervenes each time the woman beats up the babysitter.

“The woman’s husband, who is a lawyer, knows that violence like this against children is an international offence.

“You can’t have a wife and the wife will batter a small girl like this and you will claim that you don’t know as the head of the house. So, what we will do is take them up and arraign her.

“I have already asked the police to arrest her. They will prosecute her for that offence, to act as a deterrent to others.”

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Mrs. Anyima, who admitted committing the offence, said she wanted the girl to be a better person, as they are relations.

She said: “I’m not doing this thing to harm her; I just want her to change. She is the only daughter of her parents. I don’t want her to make the mistakes I made.

“I don’t want her to become useless. This thing I am doing is for her to change. I am so sorry. We are the same blood, so I cannot do anything bad to her.

“I told my husband that Chinyere is turning into something else. He was like, if she is becoming a problem, take her back home. We have decided to take her back home this September.”

Narrating her ordeal, the visibly traumatised Chinyere, who denied ever molesting her boss’ child, claimed she only cleansed the child’s buttocks.

She said almost on a daily basis, at the slightest mistake, her boss thrashed her with a cable, injuring her.

Members of a syndicate who specialised in vandalising electricity equipment such as cables, transformers and others have been arrested.

Residents said the suspects were the cause of the blackout in the area.

Sources said they were arrested at Ejidu camp, Irun in Akoko Northwest Local Government by the community vigilance group.

According to an Irun Akoko community leader, who is also the Chairman, Irun Divisional Police Community Committee (PCRC), Femi Oloketuyi, the suspects were five, who came to Ejidu at night.

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Luck, however, ran against them when the vigilantes saw a ray of light around the transformer, which led to the arrest of two of them, while three others escaped.

Oloketuyi said the transformer had been removed by the vandals before they were caught.

The two arrested suspects, Togo, 30, and Ibrahim, 23, both Igbira indigenes from Okene in Kogi State, confessed to the Divisional Police Officer for Irun-Akoko, Superintendent of Police (SP) Gbenga Ogunleye, of their involvement in the theft.

The DPO said investigation was on to apprehend those at large.

The Adamawa/Taraba Zonal Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has seized rare but outlawed items as well as more widely traded but contraband items across the two states.

The seized items include elephant tusks and bufallo horns, which the authorities abhor because of strict laws over the indicated animals.

The Adamawa/Taraba Zonal Controller of Customs, Comptroller Karmadeen Olumoh, who disclosed the seizures to reporters at the zonal headquarters of the service in Yola yesterday, said the command had also so far in the year seized 2,527 50kg bags of foreign parboiled rice, 12 vehicles, 22 motorcycles and 240 bales of second hand clothes.

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“The most recent is the seizure of 52 drums of petroleum product, with each drum containing 230 litres, totalling 11,960 litres,” the zonal controller said.

He said the command had done better so far this year than the corresponding period for last year in revenue generation despite its challenges, adding that between January and July it generated N105,945,138.44.

“This figure represents 44.66% increase over the corresponding period of the previous year,” Olumoh said, adding that the revenue target for the seven months of the year under review is N86.72 million.

He said his command achieved this despite a challenge of inadequate manpower and bad roads across the two states constituting the command, as well as low trade between Nigeria and Cameroon.

“Inadequate number of officers to patrol the vast borderline of the command remains a major obstacle, considering that the command boasts of the most expansive in the country comprising Adamawa and Taraba states,” the zonal controller said, noting, however, that an ongoing recruitment into the Customs Service “will go a long way in boosting the staff strength of the command.”

The Kwara State Police Command yesterday arraigned a second- class monarch from Odo-Owa, Oke-Ero Local Government, Oba Joshua Adeyemi Adimula, for alleged trespass to land and threat to life.

In the case number MCIA/374/2019, the cleric in charge of St Thomas Catholic Church, Odo-Owa, Rev Pius Obikwelu, accused the monarch of trespassing into the church’s parcel of land in the community.

In the police First Information Report (FIR), dated February 25, “the case was transferred from the Area Commander, Omu-Aran, in Irepodun Local

Government to the Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Ilorin for discreet investigation.”

The Catholic reverend father in a petition dated November 20, 2018 reported that Oba Adimula “trespassed into his church parcel of land situated beside St Thomas Catholic Primary School, Odo-Owa and placed an object suspected to be juju on the land. In the process, the monarch also threatened that evil would befall anybody who dared to remove the object.

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“Investigation conducted by the state CIID Ilorin revealed that you Oba Adimula who ought to be a promoter of peace within your domain criminally trespassed into the complainant’s land.”

Hearing of the case slated for commencement yesterday could not hold, because the prosecution counsel, Nasir Yusuf, got the case file at 8:30am of the same day.

Mr. Yusuf told the court that “ordinarily the case is slated for hearing today, but I got the case file this morning. Upon perusal, I discovered that it will not be appropriate to continue with the hearing based on my discussion with my senior learned colleague. We are, therefore, applying for another date for hearing.”

Presiding Chief Magistrate A. M. Ibrahim adjourned the case till September 24 for commencement of hearing.