By Vincent Akanmode and Eric Ikhilae

A new chapter opened in the intriguing story of arrest and detention of outlawed Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, with a judgment by the Court of Appeal on Thursday discharging him of the case of treasonable felony and terrorism the federal government instituted against him.

The Appeal Court, in a judgment read by Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, held that Nigeria’s failure to follow due process in Kanu’s extradition process was injurious to the charges. It also held that the failure of the federal government to disclose where and when the alleged offences were committed was fatal to the terrorism charges against him and made them liable to dismissal.

In a manner reminiscent of the abortive abduction of Second Republic Minister of Transport Alhaji Umaru Dikko from the United Kingdom by agents of the Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led military administration in 1984, Kanu was abducted from Kenya on June 26 last year. But unlike Dikko, his forcible rendition was successful and he was ferried into the country to face trial.

The IPOB leader had previously been arrested in Lagos on October 14, 2015 and was detained for more than one year before he was granted bail in April 2017 by a federal high court sitting in Abuja. He however jumped bail and fled abroad, from where he continued his agitation for the independent state of Biafra.

From his outpost abroad, he issued incendiary statements to his followers at home using the instrumentality of Radio Biafra, particularly during the EndSARS riots when many of the burning and killing incidents that occurred in Lagos, Port Harcourt and other parts of the country were allegedly masterminded by his group.

The violent activities of the IPOB group in the Southeast and beyond, especially after Kanu announced the formation of an armed wing of IPOB known as the Easter Security Network (ESN) had prompted the federal government to label it a terrorist group. Although he said the mission of ESN was to defend the people of the Southeast region against bandits and killer herdsmen who he said were terrorising the region, the militant group soon turned into a behemoth that terrorised the region’s elites deemed to be opposed or even indifferent to IPOB’s agitation.

The ordinary citizens of the region were later given a dose of ESN’s bitter pill when it announced Mondays as compulsory holiday on which the enterprising population of the region must observe IPOB’s sit-at-home order. The outfit issued all the Southeast governors a 14-day ultimatum to ban open grazing in the region or they (ESN) would enforce the ban.

The foregoing became the point of confrontation between IPOB and the military with the resultant tension in the region after agents of the Nigerian Army invaded Orlu Local Government Area in a bid to crush the ESN. In the ensuing face-off, ESN militants allegedly shot four soldiers dead while six civilians also lost their lives. For many weeks afterwards, the federal government mobilised security forces to the area while the hunt for Kanu continued until he was arrested in Kenya in June 2021 with the help of the International Police (INTERPOL), which immediately handed him over to the federal government.

The move was, however, regarded by many as an abduction or forcible rendition because it failed to follow due process of extradition as contained in the Nigerian Extradition Act. The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja appeared to align itself with this line of thought with its Thursday judgment describing the process by which Kanu was brought back into the country as illegal and also discharging him of any act of terrorism.

But while Kanu’s supporters are throwing banter over the judgment there are indications that it may not yet be uhuru for the IPOB leader who though may have scaled the hurdle in the case over the nature of his extradition would still have to cross the barrier in respect of the issues preceding his decision to jump bail.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, hinted that much when he declared in his reaction to Thursday’s judgment that Kanu was only discharged but not acquitted because there are other issues predating the IPOB leader’s rendition, which are “valid issues for judicial determination”. Malami’s position will certainly be bad news for Kanu’s supporters and the mass of the people in the Southeast region who, contrary to their initial belief, may have had to endure more of the weekly sit-at-home order of IPOB.

Read Also: Nnamdi Kanu not off the hook yet – Security Council

Kanu’s kinsmen, obviously tired of IPOB’s sit-at-home order, have seized every available opportunity to plead with President Buhari for his release. They did so when he visited the Southeast recently. Before then, a delegation of Southeast leaders had visited him in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa to make a similar plea. In each instance, the President declared unambiguously that it is a matter for the courts. But the tone of his response on each occasion leaves no discerning mind in doubt about his administration’s determination to explore the law in the matter to the last card.

The matter, all things considered, may not have reached its final destination and it would not be a surprise if it goes all the way to the Supreme Court. Government’s determination to hold on to Kanu may be informed by its realization that the IPOB leader is only the face of the pro-Biafra agitation while the forces propelling him are operating in the background. Hence setting him free may not necessarily guarantee an end to the agitation.

Why court freed him

In ordering Nnamdi Kanu’s discharge on Thursday, the three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja hinged its decision on two key grounds. The first was on the propriety or otherwise of the manner in which the Nigerian government brought Kanu back to the country from Kenya.

The second was on whether or not the Federal Government could proceed with its trial of Kanu based on the existing terrorism charge, in respect of which Kanu was being tried before he jumped bail.

In determining both issues, the three-member panel, led by Justice Jummai Sankey, faulted the procedure adopted by the Federal Government in bringing Kanu back to Nigeria.

The panel, which also included Justices Oludotun Adefope-Okojie and Ebiewe Tobi held that the failure of the Federal Government to abide by both internal and local enactment in returning Kanu to Nigeria has robbed the Federal High Court, before which the terrorism case was pending, the jurisdiction to continue with the trial.

In faulting Kanu’s rendition from Kenya, Justice Adefope-Okojie held that the “extraordinary rendition, without adherence to due process of the law was a gross violation of all international conventions, protocols and guidelines that Nigeria is signatory to.”

The judge added that such act equally breached Kanu’s fundamental human rights.

The Appeal Court added that the respondent (FG), failed to refute the allegation that Kanu was in Kenya and that he was abducted and brought back to Nigeria without going through the prescribed extradition proceeding.

The court noted that the FG was “ominously silent” on the issue of whether or not the proper procedure for extradition was complied with.

“The forceful abduction from Kenya and rendition to Nigeria by the Federal Government is a clear violation of International Convention, Protocols and Guidelines.

“The manner in which the appellant was forcefully abducted and rendered into the country shows appalling disregard to international conventions and treaties on the part of the respondent, including its local laws – the Terrorism Prevention Act.

“Section 1(a) (2) of the Terrorism Prevention Act provides among others that the Attorney General of the Federation shall be the authority for the effective implementation of the Act to conform with International Standard, Treaties and Convention.

“The respondent (FG) was mandated by law to establish that it abides by the law in the extradition of the appellant, yet, the respondent has no answer, rather sought refuge to the provisions of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

“In law, that is a costly failure and such failure is an admittance by the respondent.

“Where a party fails to controvert a deposition by an opponent, the issue not contested is deemed conceded,” the court said.

It added that it was the responsibility of the FG to prove the legality of the appellant’s (Kanu’s) arrest and return from Kenya.

The appellate court noted that Nigeria is a signatory to the OAU Convention, which it ratified on April 28, 2022, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, which stipulates how a wanted person could be transferred from one country to another.

The court was of the view that any extradition request must be in writing, and accompanied with a statement, indicating the offences for which the affected person is wanted.

On the implementation of the wrongful rendition on the capacity of the Federal High Court (per Justice Binta Nyako) to proceed with the pending terrorism charge.

The court held that Kanu’s arrest, abduction and subsequent arraignment before a Federal High Court violated international convention on terrorism and thus robbed any court of law in Nigeria the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

“The warrant of arrest issued against Kanu by the Federal High Court can only be executed in any part of Nigeria and not outside the shores of the country,” and therefore, the Nigerian government could not rely on it to breach the established procedure for extradition.

The appellate court proceeded to hold that the unlawful act of the FG tainted the entire proceeding it initiated against Kanu before the Federal High court, which amounted to “an abuse of criminal prosecution in general.”

It added: “By engaging in utter unlawful and illegal acts and in breach of its own laws in the instant matter, the Federal Government did not come to equity in clean hands and must be called to order.

“With appalling disregard to local and international laws, the Federal Government has lost the right to put the appellant trial for any offence.

“Treaties and Protocols are meant to be obeyed. No government in the world is permitted to abduct anybody without following due process of extradition.

“Nigeria is not an exception or excused. Nigeria must obey her own law and that of international, so as to avoid anarchy,” the court said.

It then proceeded to hold that the trial court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to handle the charge against Kanu, as he was not properly arraigned before the court.

The appellate court noted that the offences with which Kanu was charged were said to have been committed in Kenya and not in Nigeria.

Controversial and fiery cleric, Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, needs no introduction, either in the religious or political circuit – at least in Nigeria.

Months back, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu banned Mbaka from commenting on political issues and suspended activities in his ministry.

Founded in 1998, the Adoration Ministry led by Mbaka has a strong appeal to the thousands of devotees who throng its confines for both spiritual healing and Mbaka’s controversial political pronouncements from the pulpit.

Several attempts to curtail his perceived excesses by the church authorities have failed woefully. Buoyed by the strength of his following and the financial war chest of his ministry, Mbaka carried on unperturbed.

In the wake of his recent vituperation against the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, however, the Catholic Diocese of Enugu removed him as the spiritual director of the Adoration Ministry days after the church leadership lifted a three-month-old ban on the ministry.

Read Also: Mbaka proceeds to monastery, urges followers to stop protest

Mbaka, during his weekly service in June, had said Obi would not become president of Nigeria in 2023 because he is a stingy man. This embarrassed the Catholic authorities, especially as the Bishops had last year in Enugu warned priests against making such utterances on the pulpit.

Mbaka later apologised to Obi, in a viral video, stressing that he never meant to ridicule him. But he later claimed to have apologised under duress because his Bishop asked him to do so.

Consequently, another clergy of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu, Rev. Fr. Anthony Amadi, was posted to take charge of the Adoration Ministry thus infuriating church members, who protested the church’s decision to transfer Mbaka to the monastery.

Although he has appealed to his followers to stop the protest, stressing that he recommended his replacement to head the ministry while he is away ‘in solitude,’ his loyalists are barely pacified.

Whether it is a case of witch-hunt or a plot to take over the adoration ground as Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC) alleged, the bottom line remains that the dust raised by controversial cleric may take time to settle.

From dragging the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja, over the prolonged strike of the union, to registering a factional union, there seems to be no end in sight to the federal government’s tiff with the striking lecturers.

At the epicenter of the drama is the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who is believed to be exacerbating the situation.

While the federal government had claimed the major issues pertaining to the strike are being addressed, ASUU disagreed with the government’s insistence on the no-work-no pay rule.

Over the past few months, the government and the Emmanuel Osodeke-led ASUU leadership have been unable to meet each other halfway as deliberations to resolve the lingering strike were gridlocked.

In a strategic move to resolve the long-drawn industrial dispute, the federal government through the Ministry of Labour and Employment approached the industrial court to compel the striking lecturers to return to the classroom.

Specifically, the federal government urged the court to, “interpret in its entirety the provisions of Section 18 of the Trade Disputes Act” and also requested, “an order of the court for ASUU members to resume work in their various universities while the issues in dispute are being addressed by the NICN in consonance with the provisions of Section 18 (I) (b) of the TDA Cap T8. LFN 2004”.

But ASUU, in a counter-affidavit before the court, opposed the suit on the premise that Ngige, lacked the power to order the court in the referral to direct it to call off the strike action.

Read Also: Ngige accuses Jega of bias in Fed Govt/ASUU face-off

The subsequent recognition of the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) by the federal government has further aggravated the seven-month impasse.

Ngige, while presenting the certificate of registration to CONUA,  a body led by ‘Niyi Sunmonu, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said more of such unions were on the way, adding that whenever the government had anything to discuss with ASUU, all those unions would be involved.

Justifying the move, Ngige said, “CONUA applied for registration in 2018 and cited irreconcilable differences as it does not believe in recurring strikes as the solution to every welfare agitation…The Ministry of Labour and Employment set up a committee to look into the merit of their application and recommended approval for the registration of the association by the Registrar of Trade Unions in 2020.”

Even if the federal government patronises a factional union and successfully bullies ASUU using a court verdict, would these compel the unwilling lecturers to return to work while their demands are unmet?

Perhaps Ngige should be reminded of the Ghanaian proverb that counsels patience at handling a fly that perches on the scrotum.

The sudden and mysterious death of a stakeholder in Bhukka Hospitality Limited, owners of a leading fast-food chain, Bukka Hut, Laolu Martins during the week has continued to elicit flurry of reactions.

“We solicit the support and understanding of everyone as the family grieves the loss of our beloved Laolu in our privacy,” the family announced during the week.

His death became a subject of discussion on social media platforms with conflicting narratives.

Before his demise, Martins made a name for himself in the banking sector. He had over 21 years of experience in investment banking, corporate banking, stockbroking, asset management, and pension fund management.

What has been more confounding after his death, however, was his status with the organisation his name was associated. The management had said the late Martins was a “minority shareholder and a valued supporter.”

Initially, the bereaved family had described Martins as “one of the co-founders” of Bukka Hut, with several media platforms referring to the deceased as the co-founder too.

Read Also: PSC: Musiliu Smith exits amid a storm

But in a statement, Bukka Hut sounded the alarm about what it described as “misrepresentations” in the media that Martins co-founded the fast-food chain.

It said Rasheed Jaiyeola, the company’s majority shareholder, founded the restaurant in 2011 and projected him as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The company disclosed that Jaiyeola built the business from one outlet in August 2011 and expanded it to 24 outlets.

The statement claimed Bukka Hut is run and operated solely by Jaiyeola with the support of the senior management team.

“Rasheed and the late Laolu Martins were co-owners of Nigerian International Securities Lid (NISL) and naturally Laolu was one of the three people he invited to invest in Bukka Hut when he founded it in 2011, Rasheed resigned from NISL as a director in 2016 to focus solely on building Bukka Hut while Olaolu remained the MD/C.E.O of NISL and its related businesses,” the statement reads.

Although circumstances surrounding Martin’s death are yet to be revealed, the narratives could not be independently verified because the family asked for privacy in this grieving phase. The first one was that he was reportedly depressed, and then committed suicide. While another was that the businessman suddenly slumped and died while being rushed to the hospital.

Until his death, Martins was also an investment banking expert, a fellow of the Chartered Institute Stockbrokers, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, and the Association of Investment Advisers & Portfolio Managers.

The deceased is survived by his wife, children, aged mother, father, and his siblings.

Former captain of the Super Eagles and Chelsea star, John Mikel Obi, re-echoed the famous quote: “For every beginning, there is an end,” when he drew curtains on his illustrious football career.

John Michael Nchekwube Obinna, popularly known as John Obi Mikel was born to a civil servant and a trader. Nonetheless, his special talent and passion for football paved his path to acclaim in the gruelling world of competitive sports.

To some of his fans, his ability to control games and have a calming influence in the ‘center midfield’ endeared him to many, but some of his critics lampooned him for his slow, lethargic pace.

Mikel was first sighted by a football agent – Alhaji Babawo Mohammed Adamu on a dusty football pitch in the Jos Metropolis Township Primary school.

Soon after he was spotted by Adamu, he was picked from a pool of over 3,000 youngsters for trials at the Pepsi football academy. There, he stood out to scouts and was later picked to play for the top-flight side Plateau United, a local club side.

Read Also: Tukur Mamu: Caught in the web of intrigue

While he represented the country in the 2003 U-17 World Cup in Finland, his rise up the ladder would not gain any traction until the U-20 World Cup in the summer of 2005. Alongside Lionel Messi, Mikel was the breakout star of the tournament.

The former Super Eagles captain is widely seen as one of Africa’s most decorated football stars, having won several medals for both club and country. With a flattering record of assists, Mikel has also played with several generations of Nigerian players.

At Chelsea Football club where he spent a huge part of his career and had a phenomenal rise, Mikel’s outstanding performances helped the Blues to their first Champions League trophy in 2012.

Mikel’s renewed spirit of adventure throughout his career was admirable. He had stints in China, Turkey, and Kuwait before retiring, at 35, from his illustrious career.

“There is a saying that “all good things must come to an end”, and for my professional football career, that day is today,” wrote Mikel on his Instagram page on Tuesday thus ending a football career that earned him Champions League success from two final appearances, one Europa League winners’ medal, two Premier League titles, two League Cups and four FA Cups.

Abidemi Rufai‘s conviction establishes him as yet another casualty of Nigeria’s moral void. His sentencing, on Monday, by a United States (US) district court to five years imprisonment, after he pleaded guilty to having defrauded 12 US agencies of $600,000 shrieks a poignant rebuke of the culture that produced him.

It’s also a torrid chastisement of his former employer, Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, with whom he served until his arrest. Governor Abiodun is in dire need of a desperate spin on how his trusted aide, Rufai, got mired in grisly litigation. The consequent sentencing of the latter further sullies the image of his principal – already gasping for repute.

There is no gainsaying Rufai’s karma travels with him, like his shadow. The universe’s agent of cause and effect, deterrence, and retributive justice can neither be owned nor placed on a leash, he would learn. Thus his comeuppance.

The District Court in Western Tacoma in Washington jailed Rufai, on Monday, for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. With stolen identities, he attempted to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United States government, including pandemic-related unemployment benefits, established by the court.

Rufai, 45, who pleaded guilty to the charges in May, following his arrest at New York’s JFK airport in May 2021, admitted using stolen identities to claim hundreds of thousands of dollars in pandemic-related unemployment benefits thus defrauding 12 US agencies of $600,000 paid out into bank accounts controlled by him.

He also admitted to a long history of using stolen identities to defraud U.S. disaster programs, including aid for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and file fraudulent U.S. tax returns.

Read Also: Hushpuppi: A conman comes face to face with nemesis

Of the 12 agencies allegedly defrauded by Rufai, the Washington State Employment Security Department was hardest hit with $350,763 paid out by the agency as fraudulent pandemic unemployment claims to accounts controlled by Rufai.

The prosecution alleged that Rufai “participated in the submission of fraudulent claims seeking in excess of $2 million in federally-funded unemployment assistance and submitted claims to the IRS seeking more than 675 refunds totalling more than $1.7 million, and at least 19 fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications.”

“The motivation was greed, unrestrained greed, and a callousness towards those who have suffered,” a statement by the US Department of Justice quoted the trial judge, Benjamin H. Settle, as saying while pronouncing Rufai’s sentence on Monday.

Based on his plea agreement with the prosecution, Rufai agreed to pay full restitution of $604,260 to the defrauded agencies.

But the Department of Justice’s statement said he “has not fully cooperated with efforts to identify and forfeit assets that could be used for restitution.”

In asking for a nearly six-year prison sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Cindy Chang noted that Rufai’s scheme damaged real people who needed help.

Seattle Field Office Special Agent in Charge, Bret Kressin, quoted Rufai as saying, ‘The choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.”

The Special Agent said, “and he is correct…This sentence is a result of the culmination of choices he made funding his luxurious lifestyle.”

In 1932, the great developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget, discovered that by the tender age of six, children begin to believe that bad things  happen to them as punishments for bad things they had done.

Such truth hardly resonated in the life of Rufai; from childhood through adulthood, he struggled to circumvent the slow, honourable path to success, and instead, fought futilely to suspend the karmic laws of cause and effect. Even after his arrest, he sought to insulate himself via a botched plea bargain, from the injurious effects of his transgression and poor judgment. Indeed, for every crime, there is a punishment. Hence his recent sentencing to five years imprisonment by the District Court in Western Tacoma, US.

It was the culmination of his tedious jaunt through disrepute to inevitable chastisement; a journey that began with his indictment on May 26, 2021, by a grand jury charging the defendant with 15 offenses.

Rufai during his trial apologized in a letter to the court and blamed his actions on gambling addiction and pressure to provide for his wife and children.

“My actions are outrageous and inexcusable. Your honour, I am now a rehabilitated man that is ready to live a crime-free life and also be a responsible man to my family and my community as a whole,” he wrote.

Nonetheless, his fate manifests a sad commentary on his roots and the pervasive corruption bedeviling his homeland, Nigeria. A grifter like him is a consequence of society’s ethical lapses. At the height of his trial, not a few pundits wondered if he’d escape the consequences of his wrongdoing by exploiting the American justice system; back home, penalty for such malfeasance may be circumvented in connivance with a bland, treacherous justice system and friends in high places.

But how did a character like Rufai slip through the cracks to evade Governor Abiodun’s supposedly fastidious scrutiny? Could his suspension mitigate the damage inflicted on his former principal?

Perhaps there are others yet undetected in Abiodun’s government; while his media unit conjures some curious spin on the Rufai scandal, let his administration endeavour to strengthen its screening capacity.

The Ogun State House Assembly must equally eschew the practice of pawing political appointees with gloved palms, urging each candidate to simply “take a bow” irrespective of the latter’s past and present perfidies.

Rufai served Governor Abiodun with muddied hands. As the storm of his misadventure blows over, would the Ogun State governor cast a sanitary glance inwards, lest more of his aides or cabinet members tarnish his strides at becoming a governor Ogun State could be proud of.

Nothing appears to justify the bizarre action of a Professor and human rights activist, Zainab Duke-Abiola, who allegedly assaulted a police inspector, Teju Moses, in Garki, Abuja.

Duke-Abiola may have hidden under the cloak of immunity to allegedly assault her powerless orderly, but the incident has, so far, stripped her bare of any such privilege.

Unfortunately, her action has exposed her to disrepute, soiling her image as a human rights activist.

During the week, pictures showing Teju with a bruised face appeared on social media with the narrative that she was assaulted by Duke-Abiola. This, of course, generated mixed reactions, mostly criticism. Many were upset to see how the police inspector was subjected to inhumane treatment.

In another viral video, the orderly was captured seated on the floor, with part of her face and uniform covered with blood stains. From the left side of her forehead flowed blood as she wept in excruciating pain. All she kept asking was to be taken to the hospital to save her life.

When Teju presented her own side of the story, the police inspector’s testimony was graphic, detailed, and captured on camera. The Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi said Duke-Abiola assaulted the female inspector over her refusal to breach professional ethics by carrying out domestic chores.

According to Teju, she said: “I am Inspector Teju Moses, attached to Professor Duke Zainab around Area 11. Yesterday, after I helped her take her things to the car, she told me to open the gate. But I told her that I could not open the gate because it was raining and I was in uniform.

Read Also; Reno Omokri as ‘obidients’ gadfly bete noire

“She told me to go assist a staff to open the gate but I repeated the fact that I was in uniform and it was raining. She then said that why would I answer her that way, that it was a query, in her words. So, I kept quiet.”

However, speaking to an online news medium, on Friday, Duke-Abiola denied assaulting the officer who she described as her former police orderly.

While she insinuated that she was the victim of a premeditated plot by the police authorities, Duke-Abiola said nothing to address the merit of the allegations against her.

The rate at which police orderlies who are attached to VIPs are often converted to househelps, who clean, cook or do menial jobs, has become a source of worry and shame to the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).

Earlier this year, a video of a police officer attached as a security detail to Dr Nimota Akanbi who was appointed as the pioneer Chairman of the National Secondary School Education Commission (NSSEC), carrying a tray of food attracted widespread criticisms.

Miffed by reactions, the Police Service Commission emphasized that the operations of the Special Protection Unit (SPU) should be reviewed to ensure that only few Nigerians who genuinely deserve such protection are availed this service.

Recall that due to the prevalence of assaults on police officers, the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba Alkali recently vowed that attacks on police operatives won’t be tolerated anymore.

The police boss said an attack on any officer is an affront to the rule of law. Attacking or assaulting a law enforcement agent is tantamount to committing a serious offence known as felony, punishable with at least three years jail term in Nigeria.

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, (AAC) Omoyele Sowore, in a tweet on his official handle, demanded justice for the assaulted officer, asking IGP Usman to act immediately.

He wrote, “This is the reason @PoliceNG must be removed from its ignoble role as a VVIP protection unit and restored as a public safety force.

“This is the despicable treatment meted out by a law officer. Justice must be done. The IGP must arrest/prosecute Prof. Duke Zainab #WeCantContinueLikeThis.”

A popular adage says that desperate times require desperate remedies. Evidently, no part of the country is safe, and this has prompted governors to adopt radical strategies for safeguarding the lives and properties in their domains.

From advising citizens to bear arms for self-defense; to the clamour for state police; to the creation of a state security network; and the controversial call for the use of mercenaries, the various state governors resort to frantic measures to highlight the country’s dire security situation.

Irked by the apparent bias displayed by the federal government in denying the Western Nigeria Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun Corps, to carry sophisticated firearms, Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) has issued an explosive condemnation to the federal government, and this may lead to another standoff.

Akeredolu faulted the federal government’s alleged approval of the Katsina State Security Outfit, which is equivalent to Amotekun Corps, to carry sophisticated firearms. For the Ondo Governor, denying Amotekun the right to bear arms would expose the southwest to life-threatening marauders and organised crime.

This renewed call for Amotekun to bear arms may spring up yet another proverbial storm in a teacup.

When the six governors of the South-west states conceived the idea of a regional security outfit over one year ago, it was meant to bridge the gap created between them and the security apparatus of the federal government.

A handful of success stories of Amotekun’s activities in the southwest has changed the face of the security network; from foiling kidnap attempts stemming incessant clashes between farmers and herders, to its arrest of armed robbers and other criminals, Amotekun has won the hearts of many across the region.

Read Also: Tukur Mamu: Caught in the web of intrigue

The group has been able to achieve these feats without using the AK-47 or sub-machine guns (SMGs); its operatives have only been using Dane guns and native intelligence to wage war against banditry, armed robbery, and kidnapping.

Akeredolu, who is the chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum, stated that notwithstanding the non-approval of the federal government for Amotekun to carry arms, his government will go ahead to procure arms for the security outfit.

“We want to reiterate, that what is sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander. Ondo State government under the doctrine of necessity have decided to fulfill its legal, constitutional and moral duty to the citizens of the state by acquiring arms to protect them,” he said.

Recently, Akeredolu knocked the federal government for approving the protection of crude oil pipeline contract to former militant, Government Ekpemupolo, saying granting such a permit to non-state actors who would need heavy machine guns and other sophistical weapons, was inappropriate.

He argued that if the federal government could grant such permits to non-state actors and deny the state’s security outfit the privilege of bearing such arms to protect the people, it could as well indicate that the central government was not sincere about its commitment to fighting insecurity in the country.

For Akeredolu, the state of security is deteriorating nationwide by the day, especially in the southwest region and particularly his state. Its deterioration is evident in the escalation of violent attacks in his state and their collateral costs on human lives at large.

In the past months, Ondo State appears to be fast becoming a haven for criminal activities. The most deadly attack on Ondo State was the invasion of Saint Francis Catholic Church, Owo, in June, where about 50 worshipers were killed by gunmen.

A few weeks after the attack on the church, gunmen suspected to be bandits also killed some workers at a building site in the same Owo, the country home of Governor Akeredolu.

So as not to allow arms in the hands of the wrong people, Akeredolu, a proponent of state/community policing, strongly believes empowering Amotekun operatives to bear arms, is the panacea that will reduce these unbearable insecurity problems, especially in local communities.

So, securing licenses for Amotekun corps to carry assault rifles is the bone of contention. Benue Governor Samuel Ortom who recently launched his state security outfit — Benue Community Volunteer Guards — posited that if the federal government refuses to approve license for arms for the state’s security outfit, he would get approval from his people.

The procurement of arms and ammunition like AK-47 rifles is on the exclusive legislative list. That is, it is within the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government, and it is only the nation’s military and police that are legally mandated to carry such weapons. It would require a constitutional amendment to change the status quo.

But the embargo on the issuance of fresh firearms licenses imposed on the police since 2013 is yet to be lifted, repeatedly bringing to naught efforts by some states to arm their security outfits and defend residents in their domain.

Akeredolu’s vow to arm Amotekun with sophisticated weapons, however, seems a fitting response in the wake of the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)’s disclosure that its men attacked a police vehicle in Ondo State thus announcing its presence in the southwest region.

At the mention of the popular fraudster, Hushpuppi, whose real name is Ramon Abbas, the internet experiences a wild stir and a jarring recall of how the 39-year-old’s opulent lifestyle ended abruptly, and also soiled the country’s reputation.

Just recently, the United States government’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) declared a Nigerian, Chidozie Obasi, wanted for allegedly defrauding the New York State government of more than $30 million. It shows that there are still many more Hushpuppies lurking around the corner, and also an army of internet fraudsters who are yet to learn from the whole saga.

Hushpuppi, who is still at the centre stage, was arrested in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in June 2020, and subsequently flown to the U.S. The man in the eye of the storm has since pleaded guilty to the charges in July 2021 and was ordered to remain in custody pending sentencing.

Judge Otis Wright had fixed September 21 as the new sentencing date after the court moved it at least three times. Hushpuppi was initially scheduled for sentencing on February 14 but it was moved to July 11 before it was postponed for September 21 this year.

Read Also: Tukur Mamu: Caught in the web of intrigue

It is almost wishful thinking that Hushpuppi is trying to negotiate his freedom after he recently contracted a top Washington, D.C. criminal defence attorney, John Iweanoge, to make a case for him. He hopes to reduce his impending jail sentence from 11 years.

In another development, Hushpuppi’s lawyer, Louis Shapiro, said he would be unable to prepare for his sentencing without all the documents relating to the Juma case.

Hushpuppi reportedly engaged in a scheme to defraud a Qatari business and its owner in December 2019 with Kenyan national, Abdulrahman Imraan Juma and others. Both guys obtained bank accounts at the Wells Fargo Bank in Canoga Park, California, after Hushpuppi pretended to be a representative of the institution.

Following the information provided, between December 19 and December 24, 2019, Hushpuppi and Juma deceived their victim into contributing $330,000 to finance an “investor’s account” in order to facilitate a $15 million loan.

The government’s investigation had listed embattled police officer Abba Kyari as one of five people with Hushpuppi who had conspired within a $1.1 million fraud allegation, and he had been indicted in the Juma case.

With Kyari’s fate still hanging in balance and as the extradition battles rage on, he must definitely prove to the US authorities that his “hands are clean.”