Category: Featured

By Okodili Ndidi, Abuja and AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Major CL Datong, who was abducted from the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) by bandits 21 days ago, has been rescued by troops.

The mid-level officer was kidnapped after armed bandits breached the security at the NDA and killed two officers.

Narrating how he was rescued, the Nigerian Army in a statement signed by the Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, 1 Division Nigerian Army, Col. Ezindu Idimah, said the Nigerian Army worked in conjunction with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and other security agencies for the decisive operation that rescued the Major.

It disclosed that after the destruction of several identified bandits’ camps in the Afaka- Birnin Gwari general area and neutralization of scores of bandits, troops arrived at a camp suspected to be the location where Maj CL Datong was being held.

Read Also; Bandits bungled agreements with us – Matawalle

“At the camp, the troops exchanged fire with the bandits and overwhelmed them with superior fire. In the process, the gallant troops were able to rescue the abducted officer,” the statement said.

According to the statement, “following the directive of the Chief of Defence Staff and Service Chiefs for 1 Division Nigerian Army in conjunction with the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) and all security agencies to conduct decisive operations to rescue Major CL Datong who was abducted at Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Permanent Site on 24 August 2021, and find the perpetrators dead or alive, the  Division in conjunction with the Air Task Force, Department of State Services and other security agencies, immediately swung into action by conducting operations in the Afaka general area to find and rescue the officer.

“The operations were being conducted based on several leads received from various sources regarding the abductors and likely locations the officer was being held.

“The operations, which have been sustained since the abduction of the officer proved quite successful and led to the destruction of several identified bandits’ camps in the Afaka- Birnin Gwari general area and neutralization of scores of bandits, particularly in the late hours of today, 17 September, 2021, the troops arrived at a camp suspected to be the location where Maj CL Datong was being held. At the camp, the troops exchanged fire with the bandits and overwhelmed them with superior fire.

“In the process, the gallant troops were able to rescue the abducted officer.  However, the officer sustained a minor injury but has been treated in a medical facility and handed over to NDA for further action.

“The Division wishes to commend the efforts of the NAF, DSS, Nigerian Police and patriotic Nigerians for their invaluable support which contributed to the success of this operation.”

The statement also added that the military and other security agencies would intensify its joint operations until they capture or neutralise the assailants that killed two (2) officers in the NDA.

It will be recalled that bandits attacked the military academic institution on August 24 and abducted Major Datong after one Lt Cdr Wulah and Flt Lieutenant CM Okoronwo were shot dead, and a 2nd Lieutenant Onah was said to have sustained gunshot injury.

Our Reporter

Details of a N5 billion suit filed by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) against the Kenyan government have hinted on the torture the IPOB leader allegedly went through in the custody of security agents in the East African country.

Kanu’s lawyer, George Wajackoyah, claimed in an audio tape that he had CCTV and other evidence of how his client was abducted in Nairobi, Kenyan capital by the Muhammadu Buhari government.

“We have copies of his passport and a stamp that he was indeed in Kenya. We also have evidence he was in his residence on a particular day.

“We also have material proof that he was at the airport on a particular day to meet a friend and there he was arrested.

“Definitely, he was kidnapped,” Wajackoyah said.

The Kenyan government had strongly denied involvement in the process that led to the arrest and repatriation of Kanu back to Nigeria, with its High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, describing the claim that Kanu was arrested in the East African country as “deliberately concocted to fuel antagonistic feelings in the minds of certain sections of the Nigerian people against the people of Kenya.”

The high point of Kanu’s ugly experience, according to the law suit, was that he got his body smeared with his own urine and faeces because the security agents allegedly denied him permission to use the toilet.

The suit, which was filed in Umuahia, Abia State by Kanu’s counsel Aloy Ejimakor on September 7, revealed that Kanu was beaten severely until he fainted and was revived with cold water.

The suit is seeking to enforce Kanu’s right to life, dignity of the human person, personal liberty and fair hearing.

Read Also; Nnamdi Kanu spent two months in Kenya before arrest — Report

The affidavit in support of the originating motion, which was done by Kanu’s brother, Emmanuel, stated: “That the facts and violations deposed to in this affidavit started at the applicant’s residence in Isiama Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State; to wit; the military invasion of the applicant in September 2017 by a combined team of Ohafia-based 14 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, the Abia State Command of Nigeria Police Force and the Abia State Directorate of the State Security Service.”

“That it was the said invasion that nearly took the life of the applicant that caused him to seek refuge abroad which ultimately to Kenya, where the respondents lawfully pursued him, abducted him, disappeared with him and ultimately brought him to Nigeria and detained him.

“That in October 2015, the applicant was arrested in Lagos upon his return from the United Kingdom, detained in Abuja and ultimately charged for certain offences Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Nnamdi Kanu).

“That the applicant was detained for 18 months, but was later released on bail whereupon he returned to his home in Isiama Afaraukwu Ibeku, Umuahia North, Abia State, and there awaiting his next trial date set for October 2017.

“That on or about 10 September, while the applicant was resting at home with some family members and friends, the Ohafia-based Nigerian Army, police and DSS launched military invasion and assaults at the applicant’s residential building and premises.

“That in the course of the military action, 28 people were killed and several others, including the applicant, were wounded. Both of the applicant’s parents sustained grave injuries from the military invasion and both of them eventually succumbed to those injuries and are now late.

“That in the course of the invasion, the applicant managed to escape to a safe location from where he managed to flee overseas to save his life. That there was neither a court order revoking the applicant’s bail nor any arrest warrant that could have justified the deadly military assault.

“That had the President implemented the provisional measures, the applicant would have felt safe enough to voluntarily end his exile and return to Nigeria to face prosecution in the said charge under reference therein.

“That in the course of his exile, the applicant on or about May 5, 2021, entered the Republic of Kenya on his British passport and was admitted as such at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. After his admission, the applicant settled in at a temporary location in Nairobi, Kenya.”

Giving details of the alleged abduction of Kanu from the East African country as well as his ordeal at the hands of the Nigerian security operatives at a private residence where he was taken to, Emmanuel said: “That on June 19, 2021, the applicant drove himself and without any companion to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, to drop off a friend at the airport.

“That as soon as the applicant pulled to stop at the parking lot and alighted from his vehicle, about twenty respondent’s agents (hereafter abductors) violently accosted and abducted the applicant, handcuffed and blindfolded him, bundled him in a vehicle and sped away, while telling onlookers that the applicant is a “terrorist separatist.”

“That the applicant’s abductors took him to a nondescript private house (not a police station) somewhere in Nairobi, Kenya, and chained him to the floor. That while chained to the floor, the applicant’s abductors took turns to beat him torturing him to a point that he fainted several times and was intermittently revived when they poured cold water on him.

“That to prevent the applicant’s anguished screaming from being heard in the vicinity, the applicant’s abductors tied a cloth over his mouth and so close to covering his nostrils that the applicant struggled to breathe.

“That the applicant remained chained to the floor for eight days and was thus forced to relieve himself of urine and excrement where he was chained with same being smeared all over his body.”

That throughout the duration of the applicant’s captivity, he was not allowed to bathe and was fed only on bland bread once a day and given non-sanitary water to drink.”

By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari will depart Abuja on Sunday for New York, the United States of America, to participate in the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA76).

The session opened on Tuesday, September 14.

The theme for this year’s UNGA is, “Building Resilience Through Hope – To Recover from COVID-19, Rebuild Sustainably, Respond to the Needs of the Planet, Respect the Rights of People and Revitalize the United Nations.”

According to a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday, President Buhari will address the Assembly during the general debates on Friday, September 24 when he will speak on the theme of the conference and other global issues.

Read Also; This Buhari has no boundaries, by Femi Adesina

In the course of the Assembly, the Nigerian leader and members of the delegation will partake in other significant meetings such as The High Level Meeting to Commemorate The Twentieth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action on the theme “Reparations, Racial Justice and Equality for People of African Descent.”

The delegation will also participate in Food Systems Summit; High Level Dialogue on Energy; and The High Level Plenary Meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.

The President will also hold bilateral meetings with a number of other leaders of delegations and heads of International Development Organisations.

He will be accompanied to New York by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami (SAN) and Minister of State for Environment, Sharon Ikeazor.

Also on the President’s delegation are: National Security Adviser, Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd); Director-General, National Intelligence Agency, Amb. Ahmed Rufai Abubakar; Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire.

President Buhari is expected back in the country on Sunday, September 26.

By ‘Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor and Osagie Otabor, Akure

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, a fresh crisis is brewing in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over which zone should have its presidential ticket.

Since the party was defeated by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015 to bring its rule for 16 years to an end, it has been struggling to reclaim the presidency without success.

While the opposition party is in the process of holding an elective national convention to elect its new leaders, there are indications that the issue of zoning is tearing it apart.

For months now, there have been severe agitations as to where the presidential ticket of the party should be zoned to, with leaders and chieftains of the party, particularly from the southern part of the country, insisting that the party’s unwritten zoning arrangement be respected and the 2023 presidential ticket zoned exclusively to the South.

It is believed in many quarters that the zoning controversy is at the bottom of the storm that has been the lot of the suspended national chairman of the party, Prince Uche Secondus.

His alleged tacit support for a presidential aspirant from the north in spite of the clamour for power shift is believed to have won him several enemies from his home zone.

However, fresh indications have emerged that anti-zoning forces may have devised new plans to forestall the possibility of the party zoning the presidential ticket to the South.

The Nation gathered that an ongoing process towards the election of a new national chairman for the party is brewing suspicion and creating a fresh crisis within it.

Very reliable party sources said the high number of southern PDP chieftains indicating interest in the national chairmanship while no northerner is showing interest has become a source of worry for pro-zoning agitators within the PDP.

It was gathered that some prominent leaders and chieftains of the party, including governors, National Assembly members and Board of Trustees (BoT) members from the southern zones have expressed dissatisfaction with what they described as an attempt to scheme the zones out of contention for the presidential ticket.

It was also gathered that governors elected on the platform of the PDP are now divided over the zoning issue.

The Nation gathered that while some of them are now openly supporting national chairmanship aspirants from the south, others like Governor Seyi Makinde and Udom Emmanuel of Oyo and Akwa Ibom states respectively are warning that the emergence of a southerner in that position may nail any hope of the region getting the presidential ticket.

An ally of the Oyo State governor explained in a chat with our correspondent yesterday that Makinde’s position is based on his understanding of the practice in PDP.

An aide to the governor said: “A look at previous arrangements revealed that the national chairman and the presidential candidate had never emerged from the same region in the past.

“So, our governor, given his commitment to the southern presidency project, is asking his colleagues for a commitment that the chairmanship is not a bait to stop power from shifting to the South in 2023.

“He is not alone in this. There are other governors with him.”

The Nation however gathered that some other governors have recently proposed that the presidential ticket be thrown open for aspirants from all zones of the country to contest for it. “Their major arguments are that the last president the PDP produced is from the South and it may not be easy to defeat the APC with a presidential candidate from the South So, they have a plan to retain the ticket in the north,” a source claimed.

Finding by our correspondent revealed that majority of southern governors are opposed to the new plan by their colleagues from the north. “Though a couple of southern governors are now being convinced to join the anti zoning push, with offers like the vice presidency and other promises, the majority is still unrelenting in the quest for the ticket in 2023,” a party source said.

Determined to send the message clearly to their colleagues, PDP governors in the south have joined their APC colleagues to insist that the next president of the country should come from the South in 2023, in spite of indications that many of their colleagues are plotting to keep the ticket in the north.

“At the recent meeting of southern governors, PDP governors sent a very strong signal to their colleagues from the north and others opposed to zoning when they openly supported and signed the communique insisting on power shift. The implications are that PDP governors are now poised for showdown over the zoning issue,” our source said.

The Nation also gathered that members of the PDP caucus in the National Assembly are also not on the same page on the zoning issue.

Last week, the Southeast caucus of the PDP NASS met and decided that it will not be part of any arrangement that opposes the zoning of the presidential ticket to the South.

The legislators were responding to alleged moves to give the Southwest the national chairmanship in order to keep the presidential ticket in the north.

“Our position is to put it on record that the chairmanship is not the same as the presidential ticket and that those angling for the seat are not doing so on behalf of the entire south,” our source added.

As the drama continues to unfold, prominent chieftains of the party are urging the gladiators to be careful not to cause an implosion within the party. They have also been expressing fears about the chances of the party in the next general election.

A member of the PDP BoT, while speaking on the current crisis, accused some governors of trying to return the party to its troubled era.

He said: “The plot to give the Southwest the chairmanship so as to block the South from the presidential ticket will fail.

“It is an attempt to destroy the PDP and we must be careful. If PDP wants to win in 2023, we must respect zoning and give the South the ticket.

“I commend the governors that are still standing and I am sure they will prevail.”

Northern PDP candidate will lose — Okupe 

A PDP chieftain and former presidential spokesman, Doyin Okupe, warned yesterday against the plot to deny the South the presidential ticket of the party in 2023, saying that doing so would spell a disaster.

Okupe spoke on during a media briefing in Abuja.

According to the Ogun State politician, the issue of zoning within the PDP ranks is not up for discussion.

He warned governors and others working to ensure the emergence of a Northern candidate for the 2023 elections to desist, explaining that this has already led to defection from the party by a lot of dissatisfied members.

He said: “The gale of defections in the Peoples Democratic Party has nothing to do with any form of crisis. It is just part of happenings when a general election is approaching. Those who have defected have personal issues with party leadership, especially on the zoning arrangement.

“The issue of zoning shouldn’t be a basis for defection at this time because the committee set up to determine that will soon conclude their assignment and submit their report.

“However, there is a strong indication that the party is erroneously tilting towards zoning the presidency to the North.

“Zoning is a veritable instrument that ensures equity and balancing in the nation, gives hope and confidence and support to our national unity.

“The zoning arrangement which the PDP started since 1998 was based on the assumption that the party will be in power consistently. But the moment it lost power in 2015, automatically the arrangement has to be reviewed in view of the development.

“When the PDP lost power, there was a southern president in power. If the party didn’t lose power and completed in 2019, zoning would kick in and power would have shifted to the North.

“However, the party that won the election presented a northern candidate who by 2023 would have ruled for eight years.

“We still carried on as if the former arrangement was still in place in 2019 and it was justifiable because within the PDP at that time for us to put forward a northern candidate.

“In 2023, with APC having ruled for eight years with a northern candidate, it will be preposterous, unjust, uncaring and blatant for the PDP to zone the presidential ticket to the north because the arrangement expired the moment our party lost power in 2019.

“There should be a reset of the zoning arrangement in 2023. It does not make sense to replace a northern government of eight years with another northern government for another eight years. It doesn’t make sense.”

PDP governors accuse Umahi of sabotaging party

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors yesterday accused their Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi, of sabotaging the party in the 2019 general elections.

The governors were reacting to the remarks credited to Umahi during this recent interview on Channels Television.

Governor Umahi had said during the interview that some PDP governors were not being honest with the idea of power shift to the South.

He said: “One or two governors that own PDP, their body language suggests that they are against zoning and I can tell you from a reliable source that they are just after their own interest.”

But in a statement signed by the Director-General of the PDP Governors Forum, CID Maduabum, the governors asked Umahi to face the business of governance, accusing him of sabotaging the party during the 2019 elections while he was still a member of the party.

The statement reads: “The PDP Governors’ Forum is outraged at the attempt by the Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, who illegally and immorally sits on a PDP mandate and calls himself an All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor to turn truth on its head.

“Umahi left PDP for APC, according to him, because of the love he has for President Muhammadu Buhari, among other flimsy reasons, irrespective of the maladministration and daily incidents of destruction of lives and properties currently going on in Ebonyi State and the entire country under the watch of APC.

“Umahi sabotaged the PDP in 2019 elections in his quest to deliver 25 per cent to his APC benefactors. It took the determined resistance of Ebonyi people to checkmate him. It was good riddance that he subsequently left PDP for APC instead of continuing his role as an APC mole.

“We advise Umahi to face his frustrations in APC and not drag PDP and her governors into it.

“PDP is an independent political party with workable structures and methods of doing things. It’s not an appendage of the APC or, indeed, any other association or group.

“The PDP will take its decision on the issue of zoning political offices at the appropriate time. Even the APC has not taken any decision yet on zoning.

“Different groups and interests are advancing arguments to defend their positions as is required in a democracy. At the end of the day, decisions will be taken by each political party.

“The PDP is single minded in its resolve to boot out the APC in 2023 and would craft strategies to achieve the same in the national interest as APC currently represents an existential threat to Nigeria’s democracy and survival. Indeed all Nigerians have a duty and responsibility to end this long nightmare of APC misrule.”

No compromise on Southern presidency — Akeredolu

Speaking in a television programme monitored by The Nation in Akure yesterday, Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu reiterated the Southern Governors Forum’s earlier position that it would not back down on its agitation for zoning of the Presidency to the region in 2023.

Akeredolu said the forum would resist any political party that fields a northerner as presidential candidate.

The governor said the Southern governors will pursue the agitation to the letter because they were unanimous in their resolution on zoning.

Akeredolu, who is also Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, said: “If we have anything that we have agreed, that we have unanimity, it is the issue of president in 2023.

“All of us, irrespective of our political party; there are three political parties that are in the Southern Governors’ Forum. We have the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the All Progressives Congress, and we all agreed on this.

“Any party that picks any candidate from the North will have to face all Southern governors, because they will not support. But it has to come from the South. We are saying that there must be rotational, justice, and fairness in it, that is what we are pushing.

“If my President, Muhammadu Buhari, has ruled for eight years, then it cannot be from the North again. The next president must come from the South. We have not got to the stage where we will say let us give it to somebody who is competent.

“There are many people that are competent. We have competent people in the North as we have competent people in the South.

“So, the President can come from any part of the country. But if you have occupied the position for eight years, then it has to rotate back to the South.

“We can continue to do that until it gets to a point where the issue of zoning becomes an anathema. But for now, zoning is it and those of us from the South are determined that the next president comes from the South.”

By AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna

Ten of the remaining 31 abducted students of Bethel Baptist High school, Damishi, Kaduna have been released from captivity.

Kaduna State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, confirmed this to journalists Saturday evening.

Read Also; Abducted NDA officer regains freedom

Hayab said the students have been reunited with their parents.

He also said that, an undisclosed sum of money was paid before their release, while the remaining students still in captivity are now 21.

By Robert Egbe

The Lagos State Judicial Panel on Restitution for Victims of SARS related abuses and other matters on Saturday suspended its sitting until further notice, 27 working days to its October 19 deadline.

Panel chairman Justice Doris Okuwobi (rtd) explained that it needed the time off to collate and evaluate petitions already heard.

“There are two reports that we are expected to work on; we are not close enough to any of them. We cannot continue with the sitting and end the assignment without concluding. So, we will not be sitting from today.

“We have to collate and evaluate petitions already heard so as to make findings and recommendations, even on the Lekki shooting. But as soon as we find ourselves in a comfortable situation, we will send hearing notices for cases that have been listed.

“Please bear with us, we cannot speculate on any further extension. We have to work towards completing the assignment as early as we can.

Read Also; Lekki shootings: Forensic probe didn’t indict Army, says expert

“This is without any prejudice to us coming back to conclude on part-heard cases. Dates will be communicated to petitioners who have petitions pending,” Okuwobi said.

Following the announcement, the panel went on to hear and conclude the cross-examination of a pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, and one of the #EndSARS coordinators, Serah Ibrahim.

Both witnesses were discharged after they concluded their testimonies.

Before the panel rose for the day, lead counsel to the Lagos State Government, Mr Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN stated that the state intended to call two expert witnesses – a ballistician and a security expert, with regards to the Lekki shooting.

Owonikoko said: “One of the experts was commissioned from the United Kingdom and the other is a highly placed security expert.

“We want an indication on when the panel will reconvene so that we can guide them on when specifically they will appear.”

The panel took a short break to decide how to respond to this submission.

When it resumed, Justice Okuwobi said: “On the application, the quality of the witnesses we envisage will slow the panel down… we only have 27 working days to the end of this assignment.

“We are of the firm view that we cannot accommodate such evidence at this time. It will be highly impossible and impracticable to take the two witnesses, and it is the panel’s greatest concern that we get our report ready for the terminal date of this assignment.”

The panel’s ruling did not please some of the counsel.

Co-counsel for the Lagos State Government Mr Olukayode Enitan, SAN, reminded the panel of his earlier suggestion on “front-loading”

He said: “At the beginning, I suggested that front-loading should be adopted. My lord, we are back there.”

He argued that it would be unjust to not take his party’s witnesses.

“It will be most unfair to not want to hear what we want to say. I would advise that the panel adopt a process that will ensure that all sides are heard.”

Counsel for the Lekki Concession Company (LCC), Mr Rotimi Seriki, agreed.

“I believe that in the interest of justice and given that this is a fact-finding exercise, any piece of evidence that will allow this panel in arriving at a decision should not be shut out,” Seriki said.

When the panel head asked Mr Enitan if the expert witness could be flown in immediately, he said no, because he had to observe the COVID-19 travel protocol.

A counsel for some of the #EndSARS protesters, Mr Adeshina Ogunlana, proposed that the panel should take the expert witness by virtual means, adding that sittings be either extended or an additional weekday be added.

The panel was expected to conclude its sitting on October 19.

Reacting to the turn of events, panelist Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, alleged a sinister move against the panel.

“There are attempts to frustrate the #EndSARS Judicial Panel from reaching meaningful conclusions on investigations into the Lekki Toll Gate incident of 20th October 2020. I will give details subsequently,” Adegboruwa said in a statement to journalists.

Our Reporter 

• How IPOB leader, PA outsmarted security agents over passport

Fresh facts have emerged in Kenya on the moments that led to the arrest in June and subsequent deportation to Nigeria of the leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu.

Kanu’s younger brother, Kingsley, with whom he was conversing on the phone when he was arrested, says the separatist champion was into his second month in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, at the time.

Kingsley has now filed a suit in a high court in Kenya seeking a declaration that his brother’s arrest was not in order.

The younger Kanu also reveals how he and his brother’s Kenyan personal assistant outwitted the Nigerian security agents in their bid to lay their hands on his British passport.

Kingsley is suing Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, Director of Immigration Services Alexander Muteshi, Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) police boss and Attorney-General Paul Kihara Kariuki over Nnamdi’s alleged abduction and deportation.

The plaintiff, according to The Nation newspaper of Kenya, claims the IPOB leader had arrived in Kenya from Kigali, Rwanda, in May and was to spend “a few weeks” in Kenya when the country’s security forces allegedly assisted in deporting him.

On the day of his arrest, he had gone to pick up a friend from JKIA and was on a phone call with his Germany-based brother when he was arrested.

“The subject (Mr Kanu) was at no time notified that he was classified as a prohibited immigrant in Kenya.

“If he was, he would not have been granted a visa in the first instance or allowed to exit the airport on arrival.

“He would have been asked to take the next available flight out of Kenya,” Kingsley says in his petition to the court.

Read Also: Southeast senators, Reps seek political solution to Kanu’s ordeal

Besides, he says Kanu was in Kenya in furtherance of his campaign for the separation of Biafra from Nigeria.

The court papers reveal that the IPOB leader had stayed in a furnished apartment within Nairobi’s upscale Kilimani suburb and had hired a Kenyan personal assistant.

It was the personal assistant who sent Kanu’s British passport to Kingsley in Germany after his arrest and gave details of the last moment before the security swoop.

Kingsley says he requested for his brother’s passport to avoid it getting into the hands of the Nigerian authorities, who might use it to claim that the IPOB leader travelled to Nigeria on his own volition.

Kingsley is praying the Kenyan court to declare his brother’s arrest and deportation a violation of extradition treaties signed by Kenya.

He also wants the court to compel the Kenyan government to reveal the circumstances of the arrest and subsequent deportation to Nigeria.

Similarly, he wants the court to order the government to release the full name and ranks of police officers and any government bureaucrat who participated in the deportation to Nigeria, saying: “Even though the subject (of the court petition) is not a Kenyan citizen, he was entitled to protection by and under the Constitution of Kenya and international human rights law signed and covenanted to be upheld by the government of Kenya.

“Even though the petitioner (Kingsley Kanu) is not a Kenyan, the Constitution of Kenya does not prevent him from moving to the High Court under Article 22 of the Constitution.”

Citing Kanu’s previous encounters with the Nigerian authorities, the plaintiff adds: “There are concerns that he is currently being tortured in detention in Nigeria. Similar actions by Nigerian authorities against pro-Biafra activists have been widely reported and condemned by international human rights Non-government Organisations as well as the United Nations.

“Given the history of Nigerian authorities torturing Mr Kanu in detention, there can be no doubt that Mr Kanu is in grave danger and at serious risk of torture while in detention.”

Details of Kanu’s arrest contained in the court papers show that he was admitted to Nairobi Hospital on May 13, 2021 and discharged the following day.

He went to the airport to pick up a friend on June 19 and while on a call with his brother, a group of unidentified individuals accosted him.

While the drama was unfolding, Kanu had promised to call his brother back, but that was the last time the two would talk.

But a few days later, Kanu’s Kenyan personal assistant telephoned Kingsley that the separatist leader had not been seen at the Kilimani apartment since June 19.

She said Nnamdi’s passport was in his apartment which was indicative that he had not planned to travel outside Kenya when he left for JKIA.

“On or about July 6, 2021 the petitioner requested Ms Gitau to send him Mr Kanu’s passport in fear that the Nigerian authorities would get a hold of it and claim he voluntarily entered Nigeria. The petitioner currently has the passport of Mr Kanu in his possession,” Kingsley Kanu adds.

The High Court has ordered the government officials to file their responses to the petition, which will be mentioned on October 5, 2021.

There are concerns in Kenya that Nnamdi Kanu’s deportation may spark a diplomatic spat between Nairobi and London.

Kenya has consistently denied having a hand in Kanu’s deportation.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja early in July, the Kenyan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Wilfred Machage, said: “I want to address this allegation by denying that Kenya was involved in the alleged arrest in Kenya and extradition to Nigeria of Mr. Kanu.

“To us, therefore, these allegations are fictional, imaginary and deliberately concerted to fuel antagonistic feelings among certain section of the Nigerian people.”

He added: “I want to challenge anyone with facts relating to this alleged arrest in Kenya to present those facts. This includes when, where, how and who was particularly involved in the alleged arrest.”

He said the government and people of Kenya were also disturbed, dismayed and astonished by the unfortunate statement on this alleged arrest in Kenya which was carried in one of the national dailies.

“The Government of Kenya is particularly appalled by the spurious, derogatory and libelous mention of our dear President on this matter as has been reported,” Machage added.

In a statement issued by its spokesman Emma Powerful, IPOB had described as “loathsome and distasteful” the silence of the governors of South-East and South-South regions over Kanu’s continued detention by the Nigerian government.

The group stated that the governors’ attitude justified its position that they were complicit in the extraordinary rendition of the separatist leader orchestrated by the governments of Nigeria and Kenya.

The statement reads in part: “We the global family of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by Nnamdi Kanu find loathsome and distasteful, the complacent attitude of South-East and South-South governors and religious leaders over the fate of our leader following his abduction and extraordinary rendition from Kenya to Nigeria.

“It’s baffling that since June 19 that Kanu was abducted in Kenya and brought back to Nigeria in clear violation of international laws, the South-East and South-South governors and religious leaders are yet to openly condemn the act or take any action to register their displeasure with the impunity of the federal government of Nigeria.

“This criminal silence strongly confirms our earlier understanding and fears that these hypocritical leaders and traitors may be part of our leader’s ordeals. While leaders from other zones are courageously speaking up for their own, governors and religious leaders from South-East and South-South have kept mute for reasons best known to them.”

Kanu is currently facing treasonable charges in Abuja. He had earlier jumped bail and fled the country.

By Innocent Duru, Nwanosike Onu, Awka, Sunny Nwankwo, Umuahia, Chris Njoku, Owerri, and Ogochukwu Anioke, Abalaliki

• We’ll investigate their absence – Ohanaeze
• It’s an embarrassment to well-meaning Igbo – Chekwas Okorie
• Umahi tells Southern governors: ‘be your brother’s keeper’
• Why govs were absent – Sources

Absentee Southeast governors at the Southern Governors Forum meeting held at the Enugu Government lodge, on Thursday, have come under severe criticisms from prominent Igbo groups and leaders.

Their absence was described as an embarrassment to the region by the respondents who expected they would grace the meeting to solidarise with the host governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Governors  David Umahi, Willie Obiano, Hope Uzodimma and Okezie Ikpeazu were represented by their deputies at the meeting.

Apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said it was saddened by the absence of the governors at the meeting.  National Publicity Secretary of the group, Hon Alex Ogbonnia Ohanaeze, in a telephone interview with The Nation, said they are  still investigating why some of the governors delegated their deputies. “We are still looking into it and we will come out with our findings. We weren’t happy that they weren’t there themselves but we will not conclude until we find out why. If they have a genuine reason, well… but if they don’t, we will make our own comment known.  For now we are still looking into it.”

Another Igbo group, the Concerned Igbo Stakeholders Forum (CISF), said there were no justifiable reasons for the governors not to attend a meeting of that magnitude.

In a chat with journalists in Enugu, the leader of the group, Mr. Chukwuma Okenwa,  said it was wrong particularly coming at a time when the region is battling socio-economic and security concerns stemming from the sit-at-home order issued by the proscribed separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

“The absence of the governors of Abia, Ebonyi, Imo and Anambra states leaves a lot to question the commitment of these governors to the growth and advancement of the South-East in missing a crucial meeting held within their geopolitical zone.

“The body language of the South-East governors in recent times leaves no one to doubt that these governors have magnified their interest above that of the region and Ndi-Igbo in general.

“Their gaze at the forthcoming elections in 2023 is becoming an unbearable distraction for them in delivering their mandate to the people,” he said.

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chekwas Okorie, expressed disappointment over the governors’ absence, describing it as an embarrassment to well-meaning people from the region. “I am not okay with that development especially when the meeting was brought to the Southeast and the only governor present was the host governor. I expected his colleagues to solidarise with him since he was hosting it on behalf of the Southeast governors but that didn’t happen.

Read Also: ‘Why power should shift to Southeast in 2023’

“Because of my personal reach to most of  them, I will not be quick to make a strong criticism of what happened until I find out why.  But whether I am happy with it, I am not. Whether it is practically embarrassing to every well-meaning person from the South east, it is quite embarrassing. I will like to find out what actually happened between now and tomorrow because it is not the right thing. That solidarity ought to be there.”

A human rights activist, Chinedum Amobi, told The Nation that the  governors’ absented from the  meeting because they were afraid to discuss anti open grazing law.

He said someone like Obiano, who had not done anything on the open grazing  would not want to be questioned by his colleagues on why he’s shying away from it after their meetings in Delta and Lagos respectively

“The truth of the matter is that Obiano is not interested in the anti-open grazing bill. Apart from Enugu and perhaps, Abia State, the other governors in Southeast are not interested “ the activist said

A human rights lawyer, Barr Emperor Ogbonna, said: “Most of the governors of the Southeast stayed away from the meeting of the southern governors’ forum probably because they don’t think that the meeting is worth attending.

“You know that at the last meeting of the forum they agreed that open grazing is outlawed and that states shall pass anti-open grazing laws.

“However, up till today, so many of those states are yet to pass a law outlawing open grazing.

“Even those that passed the law do not have the will power to implement it as we still see cattle grazing in the open and nobody arrests the cows or the herdsmen.

“So I think that most of those that stayed away might not have seen the need for that forum.

“Also, the group has been talking about the emergence of a president from the south.

“However, with the incidents of defection among the governors to the APC, one doubts whether they would have the political will power to work against their party if the party decides to field a non-Southerner.

“To me, I don’t think they will go against their party so to me, it appears that they consider the forum a toothless bulldog

“These governors are more interested in their own political future and any resolution by the forum that may make them be at loggerheads with their parties may not be welcome to them so the absence from the meeting appears to me as deliberate as they do not want to be confrontational to their parties and even, the north controlled federal government, which government may go against them on matters of corruption after their tenure and if a person they do not support emerge.

So I think they are either playing safe or did not find the meeting relevant.”

Reacting, the President General, Coalition of South East Youth Leaders( COSEYL), Goodluck Ibem, said the absence of South East governors at  meeting  gives a very negative impression of the kind of persons Ndigbo elected as governors .

“If our governors will be so scared to attend a meeting in their own geo-political zone just because they don’t want to offend their masters in Abuja, it means that Ndigbo are really in trouble. The governors were elected by the people to lead them and not by anyone in Abuja.

The  South East governors should stop this hide and seek game . They must be man enough to protect the interest of their people or resign from office.

“It is very embarrassing that governors of the zone will be so scared to speak in defense of the people of South East. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour from our governors next time. They must attend the Southern governors meeting next time or face the wrath of the people, “he said.

Umahi tells Southern governors: ‘be your brother’s keeper’

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state on Friday told other governors in Southern Nigeria that he won’t support their resolution on collection of the Value Added Tax by states.

Umahi was reacting to a resolution of Southern Governor’s Forum during their meeting in Enugu where they called for states to start collecting VAT on Thursday

Umahi, who is the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme.

VAT is a consumption tax paid when goods are purchased and services are rendered. It is charged at a rate of 7.5 per cent.

Rivers and Lagos states governments had moved to start the process of collecting VAT within their territories before they were halter by the Court of Appeal in a ruling on September 10.

The court ordered a status quo pending the determination of an appeal filed by the Federal Inland Revenue Service against the judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt.

The Nation gathered that Ogun State has also started the process of passing a bill on VAT in its House of Assembly.

The Southern Governors’ Forum led by Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), reading a communiqué at the end of a meeting on Thursday had said, “The meeting resolved to support the position that the collection of VAT falls within the powers of the states.”

But Umahi said his stand on the issue has not changed despite the resolution of the Forum.

He said, “In any gathering, the minority will have their say and the majority will have their way. For example, there was an issue that came up. I’m not sure it is clear to some of our colleagues on the issue of VAT but it is very clear to me.

“We (Ebonyi) took a stand as a state with our leaders on the issue of the VAT war that is going and so my deputy carried it on to say that this is what my governor is saying and this is what the state is saying and he went ahead to explain with some other deputies that represented their governors.

“But together they were in the minority and it didn’t stop the majority from coming up with their communiqué. When it comes up to implementation and voicing out, I will continue to say: this is where is I stand; if it is a choice, I will choose what would benefit my state.”

Umahi also said every state in the country is dependent on each other as each state has one thing it is lacking that it gets from another state.

“When they (Southern governors) say that this VAT collection is part of true restructuring, I said I never believe in total restructuring; I believe in administrative restructuring,” he said.

Umahi warned that a change to the status quo in VAT collection will lead to a collapse of many states in the country.

He said it was not right that some states would “eat and have so much surplus and then some other states don’t have much to eat.

“We have to be our brothers’ keeper; we have to see how we can grow the economies of the weakest states, otherwise, we will breed insecurity in those states.”

“There is no way in a relationship that you will get 100 per cent of what you put in, it doesn’t work that way,”

“I have said that my state would not be viable and I will continue to say that more than 30 other states would not be viable; we should not break the states.

“Whatever thing we are doing, we have to think about the nation first. Let’s tarry a while and see how we can pass this river and then we can come to the fact of who is right and who is wrong.

“True federalism is not done in a day. If we want to do a restructuring, we have to have a gradual process to do that.”

Governorship campaign stopped Obiano, deputy from attending meeting

The November 6 governorship campaign in Anambra State was the reason why Governor Willie Obiano and his Deputy, Dr Nkem Okeke did not attend the Southern governors meeting in Enugu Thursday, The Nation learnt

A source close to the government House Awka, who did not want to be quoted, told The Nation that the two had been engaged in making sure their party retains the governorship seat

When The Nation contacted both the Chief Press Secretary to Obiano James Eze and the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C Don Adinuba, they said they were not in the know.

But one of the government officials, who pleaded anonymity, told The Nation that both men were neck deep in campaigns to make sure Prof Charles Soludo succeeds Obiano

According to the source, “that meeting was never Obiano’s priority and the Southern governors should know that  Anambra election is almost at hand

“ And other parties are doing everything possible for APGA to lose it, just to humiliate the governor

“So, the governor doesn’t want to give any one such opportunity. He’s only interested in making Soludo governor and I think it was the major reason why he did  not go or send his deputy, “ the source said.

The Chief Press Secretary to Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma, Oguwike Nwachuku, said that the absence of the governor could be  because of exigency of the office. “That is why there is the office of the Deputy Governor. Duties can take the governor out of the state, he can then delegate the assignment to the deputy governor.”

Sources within the corridors of power in Abia State who would not want their names mentioned claimed that why Abia State governor was absent from the meeting in Enugu State was because he was out of the country  some weeks before the meeting was scheduled.

By Jide Orintunsin, Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja; Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt

• ‘Plot to make Jonathan president conspiracy against South’
• PDP targeting 28 states, presidency, says Fintiri

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that it has not granted an automatic ticket to former President Goodluck Jonathan who is being rumoured to be planning to defect to the party ahead of the 2023 general elections.

A founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the South-south, Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, also described alleged scheme by some northern leaders to return the former President to Aso Rock in 2023 as deceitful and a grand conspiracy against the South.

On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to reclaim power at the centre come 2023, adding that the party would also win 28 of the 36 states across the federation.

The APC said the waiver granted new entrants and defectors into the party does not exclude them from undergoing nomination processes of contesting for positions in the party and as its flag bearers in general elections.

APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, made the declaration in a statement in Abuja yesterday.

He said defection into the party by any person does not confer the status of an automatic candidate of the party on such individual.

Akpanudoedehe, who was reacting to a misrepresentation of his views on the waiver granted new entrants and defectors by the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) at its December 8, 2020 meeting in a television programme, said all party members, irrespective of the status of the person, must go through the party’s nomination process as outlined in its constitution.

He maintained that the waiver by NEC was not restricted to anyone.

According to the Secretary, “the waiver is not specific to anyone as being misconstrued and misrepresented in some sections.

“Coming into the party gives no one special status of being an automatic party candidate in any election. All aspirants must undergo the nomination processes outlined by the APC constitution,” he said.

Akpanudoedehe recalled that the party’s NEC resolved and granted waivers to persons who have recently joined the party and those desirous of joining the party in the nearest future to contest for positions in the APC and as party flag bearers in general elections.

He explained that by the NEC resolution, “new members will enjoy all the benefits and privileges accruable by the APC” but not the status of automatic candidate of the party.

According to the Secretary: “For the records, in my recent television interview reaction to the rumoured plans by former President Goodluck Jonathan to join the APC, my statement was that NEC resolution was a blanket waiver to ALL new APC entrants, including the interviewee.

“The waiver is not specific to anyone as being misconstrued and misrepresented in some sections.

Read Also; Can Ladoja help APC to regain Oyo?

“Coming into the party gives no one special status of being an automatic party candidate in any election. All aspirants must undergo the nomination processes outlined by the APC constitution,” he said.

‘Plot to make Jonathan President deceitful, conspiracy against South’

A South-south founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Chukwuemeka Eze, described the ongoing scheme by some northern leaders to return former President Jonathan to Aso Rock in 2023 as deceitful and a grand conspiracy against the South.

Eze, in a statement in Port Harcourt yesterday, said the plot was a packaged trick by some northern leaders to make Jonathan President for one term and retake power in 2027 thereby denying the southern part of the country a complete term of eight years.

Eze said that the northern schemers knew that with President Muhammadu Buhari successfully completing his second term by 2023, the South, in all honesty and fairness, would produce the next President.

But to truncate a southern eight-year rule, the schemes intended to feature Jonathan for one tenure in 2023 thereby throwing the 2027 presidential election open for a fresh zoning  arrangement and contest favourable to the North.

Eze urged all Nigerians to speak up and condemn such a dastardly act that might plunge the nation into unprecedented chaos.

The APC chief, however, claimed that Jonathan had rejected the plan, describing the former President’s rejection as consolatory.

He said: “This plot is an unacceptable insult on both Jonathan and the entire southern political class as if we lack credible political leaders from the South that can turn the fortunes of this country around.

“It is imperative to commend Dr. Jonathan for reading through the deceit of these leaders, trashing their dishonest entreaty and ensuring that his political feats and present status as a great promoter of democracy is not ruined, tarnished but kept intact by keeping these undemocratic elements at bay.

“I am very glad that Dr. Jonathan has done his best to keep these undemocratic forces at bay, who are hell-bent to deny the South the chance to preside over the affairs of this country according to the terms of power rotation between the North and the South, not minding that the northerners have through the military and democratic dispensations governed this country to their heart contents.

“Funny and sad enough, same leaders who ensured that Dr. Jonathan was not reelected in 2015 are the same crop of leaders that are doing everything to lure him back to finish whatever that  is left of him politically.

“As much as I am not a supporter or sympathiser of Dr. Jonathan and his type of politics, as I was one of those who ensured he was not reelected, I will not sit and allow his haters drain the little integrity left of him.

“Luring him to contest the 2023 does not  in any way wash him off the sins and reasons behind why he was not reelected in 2023, but a careful ploy to portray the Southerners as lacking better and credible leaders to improve on the fortunes of the country.”

Eze also commended Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for insisting that he would not support Jonathan if he decided to contest the 2023 general election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Eze said if Jonathan allowed himself to be fooled by those luring him, he would face the worst political defeat in 2023.

He advised Jonathan not to allow himself to be used as an object of division and tension in the country, appealing to him to continue to enjoy his 2015 feat, which earned him an international figure.

PDP targeting 28 states, presidency, says Fintiri

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday vowed to reclaim power at the centre come 2023, saying that the party would also win 28 of the 36 states across the federation.

The declaration was made in Abuja by Adamawa State governor Ahmadu Fintiri shortly after the inauguration of the party’s Convention Organising Committee at the PDP national secretariat.

Fintiri boasted that the PDP would not only win the presidency but would also re-enact it’s pre-2019 standing by winning 28 states.

According to him, the upcoming October convention of the PDP would be the starting point for the party to return to power in 2023, adding: “So I believe, by 2023, we are going to have about 28 governors and the President.”

Fintiri said the present team of National Working Committee (NWC) has done very well, contrary to claims by some interests within the party that the team failed to perform.

He justified his position by saying that the Uche Secondus led NWC moved the PDP from the 10 states it met pre-2019 general election to 17 after the election, “before we were robbed of four states”.

The governor said: “The present leadership has done very well. They have taken this party from 10 governors to about 17 governors before we were robbed at the time.”

Stating the state of preparedness of his 279-member committee, the governor assured that the committee would deliver the best convention in the history of the PDP, considering the calibre of members.

Addressing the committee members earlier, Fintiri said: “I count on all your experiences to give this convention the direction it deserves. We are in an extraordinary time, and we expect to have an extraordinary National Working Committee after this convention.

“This is what Nigerians expect from us. That will be the takeoff point for this party going into 2023 election.”

He, however, added that the success of his committee would depend on the timely delivery by the party’s Zoning Committee, chaired by the Enugu State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

He said: “I call on the zoning committee to work and conclude its assignment latest by the end of next week, so that we can start our job. It is not an order, but that is what we least expect from you by end of Friday next week.

“Round off your job so that those who are interested in contesting and occupying these very important positions in our party will start criss-crossing Nigeria. Nigeria is not a small country. Nigeria is a very big country that needs time to go round and sell themselves.”

Stating that he had gathered enough experience from previous conventions, Fintiri said the upcoming convention would be a clear departure from previous ones, adding that more technology would be deployed in the exercise.

The governor said the possibility of having consensus candidates from states could not be ruled out, as candidates would not be forced on any elective position.

“If a position is zoned to a particular state, and they so decide to field just one person, we cannot say because we want to have competition in the convention and force them into competitive election.

“We assure you that we are going to conduct one of the freest and fairest conventions which will be the take off for our party for 2023,” he said.

According to him, the limited time frame for the convention would not be a challenge, assuring that there would not be shift in date.

“We are equal to the task. The time is barely enough, but we are adequately preparing.

“I don’t see any reason for any shift. We have written to INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) and we have virtually gotten the approval of the venue. So what stops us from giving the best NWC at the end of October?” he stated.

While inaugurating the committee, the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, called on leaders and members of the organising committee to not only sustain but also to improve upon what the party delivered in the 2017 Port Harcourt convention.

“I call on the Chairman (Fintiri), his deputy, secretary and other members of the committee to close ranks made sure that their watchword remains success at the end of the event,” Akinwonmi said.

Also, the Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Senator Walid Jibrin, in his address, said the party’s reconciliation committee, led by a former Senate President, David Mark, had gone far in its assignment and that its job would be concluded in the shortest possible time.

On his part, the House of Representatives Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, said the upcoming convention would engender strategic repositioning of the PDP in its determination to “rescue and take back our nation from the stranglehold and misrule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal government.”

He added: “The APC led government has compromised our national security and is now superintending over escalated bloodletting, terrorism and unrelenting acts of banditry to the extent that mass killing is becoming a new normal in our country.

“This is because their (Nigerians) only hope of returning to a life of peace, security, national cohesion and economic prosperity is in returning the PDP to power come 2023.”

By Robert Egbe

The battle over the estate of the late Lagos-based businessman, Dr. Tosin Ajayi, is heating up at the Federal High Court in Lagos, with his widow Oluwayemisi Ajayi, raising allegations of adultery against a former Miss Nigeria, Helen Prest.

The widow, in a 27-paragraph counter-affidavit filed against Prest’s suit, said she and her husband were legally married under the Marriage Act and never divorced till his death.

She alleged that Prest, with full knowledge of Dr. Ajayi’s subsisting marriage, carried on an illicit relationship with him as his concubine.

The suit was filed on July 23, 2021, and has  First Foundation Medical Engineering Company Ltd (FFMECL); Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); Oluwayemisi Ajayi; and Patrick Abak, a lawyer as first to fourth respondents.

While Helen Prest was listed as the second plaintiff, her daughter Tomisin Ajayi was listed as the first plaintiff.

The legal battle is centred on who should control FFMECL and other properties owned by the firm.

Read Also: Court remands 3 men for allegedly stealing 2 phones, £10

In her 71-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit against the respondents and deposed to by Helen Prest’s daughter (first plaintiff), she averred that her late dad married Oluwayemisi and they had children, but they were separated for 35 years before her father’s demise.

Tomisin claimed that in the course of the separation, the late Ajayi and her mother, Helen Prest married and gave birth to her.

But in a counter-affidavit deposed to by the widow and filed on September 13, 2021, Oluwayemisi Ajayi averred that she was aware that Tomisin presents herself as the “love child of an adulterous relationship” between her deceased husband, Dr. Ajayi, “and his adulteress,” Helen Prest.

The deponent stated that although she was not in a position to confirm if Tomisin Ajayi is a child of her late husband, because the late Ajayi did not introduce her to the family in his lifetime, she was ready to accept the first plaintiff in good faith as one of the beneficiaries of the estate of her deceased husband.

On the ownership of FFMECL, the widow claimed that she and the late Ajayi built the firm together and that at no time was her deceased husband the sole beneficial shareholder or director of the company. She stated that since the incorporation of FFMEC, she had always been a shareholder and director of the company.

On her marital status to the late Ajayi, the widow averred that she was legally married to the deceased and there was no divorce. She challenged Helen Prest to present any document in opposition to her marriage certificate.

She stated: “My late husband never cohabited (and never decided to cohabit) as a common-law partner with the second plaintiff in the United Kingdom.

“The second plaintiff was desirous of a marriage and legally cognizable relationship with my late husband, Dr. Ajayi, from the outset (including urging him to divorce me), a proposition which he consistently rejected throughout his life despite the second plaintiff’s incessant solicitations for same.”

The widow stated further: “Although Helen Prest was a concubine of my deceased husband, she was never a shareholder, director, officer,  employee or business partner of, or otherwise associated with the affairs of, FFMECL or any other companies in which my husband was a major shareholder (including those wherein I am also a shareholder).”