Biafra: Nnamdi Kanu is a fraudsters – Uwazuruike

The founder of the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, has called the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, a “fraudster”, who is not genuinely interested in the Biafran struggle.
Uwazuruike said this in Owerri, Imo State, while responding to rumours that the federal government wants him to testify against Kanu in secret.
He insisted he could do so openly if he wanted.
Emma Powerful, spokesman of IPOB, had claimed Uwazuruike was promised oil wells by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, if he helped in nailing Kanu.
“Some unscrupulous elements in Biafra land are working with the Nigeria government and the DSS to hide under the screen to testify against Nnamdi Kanu,” Powerful said in a statement.
“IPOB intelligence unit across the country uncovered plans and names of those to be used by the federal government to testify against our leader Nnamdi Kanu.
“The Buhari government promised to allocate oil wells to Ralph Uwazuruike and his associates in crime against the leader of IPOB and Biafrans worldwide.
“To buttress our points, Raphael Uwazuruike and co were in contact with the DSS headquarters in Owerri and Abuja to perfect this heinous crime against humanity but right now they are in Abuja to compliment the whole arrangements to testify against the People of Biafra and our leader”, he added.
Uwazuruike described the allegations as laughable and stated that modern Biafra was his concept.
“The allegations are idiotic, stupid and laughable. The modern Biafra is my product; I started it in 1999 and since that time I have been on with the struggle,” he said.

“Our late leader, Odimegwu Ojukwu gave me the franchise and I am the leader of the Biafran struggle today any other person involved in the struggle is working on my behalf.
“When I founded MASSOB in 1999 and started the struggle for Biafra, no Igbo man could summon the courage to mention Biafra, it was then considered as a taboo. Our people were cowards and could not mention Biafra until I started.
“When I started, nobody gave me a chance, I went through the hurdles alone. So Nnamdi Kanu is not the first Igbo to be tried for treason, I also stood before the same judge handling his case for the same charge of treason. He should face his trial like a freedom fighter and if need be die for the course”, he added.
Uwazuruike also claimed Kanu was “a nobody” when he picked him up in London, where he was “practising Internet fraud as his only means of livelihood”.
“Kanu was homeless when I met him in London, I gave him the first money to rent an apartment after he was thrown out by the Ghanaian woman he was living with,” he said.
“When I met him (Kanu) in London he had no job and no certificate, he was into internet crime. So who is Nnamdi Kanu, it is you the journalists that are flaming him up as somebody, if not he is a nobody.
“The struggle continues to be alive as long as I agree. Even if Nnamdi Kanu dies today, the struggle continues. I cannot travel to Abuja to give evidence against Kanu masked, if I want to do that, I will testify against him in an open court, but I can’t do that; what do I stand to gain?”

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Ex-Beue Gov. Suswam set to dump PDP for APC

 A former governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam, is set to dump the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), according to report.
This is coming on the heels of recent defections into the APC fold by former chieftains of PDP like former Abia state governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, and Patrick Ifeanyi Uba, chairman, Capital Oil and Gas.
The sources disclosed that the former governor aims to actualize his Senatorial ambition come 2019 on the platform of the APC and is said to be negotiating with the powers that be in the party in the state for his possible defection.
“We are not sure how the stalemate in the PDP will end up so we do not want to take chances that is why we have begun preparations to have a smooth sail in the forthcoming election,” said a close ally to the ex governor.
Suswam, who currently on holiday abroad sought to represent the State’s North East senatorial district at the National Assembly as he ended his eight-year tenure as governor. But was deprived by a former national chairman of the PDP, Barnabas Gemade, who defected to the APC at the to get a second term.

A former speaker of the State House of Assembly, David Iorhemba who is the national acting legal adviser of the Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the PDP admitted Suswam’s plans to leave the PDP.
He emphasized that the former governor is bound to leave the PDP, because of its unending crises that has put the party in a disadvantaged position in the forthcoming elections hence, the need to make amends.


Besides, the former speaker dispelled insinuations of the former governor defecting to the ruling APC, hinting that he may be heading to the Action Democratic Party (ADP).
“We are not sure of what will become of the PDP at the end of the day so we will have to leave but certainly not to APC, we are going to Action Democratic Party, ADP,” he stated in an interview in Abuja.
The fact that the relationship between the State governor, Samuel Ortom who is of the APC and his predecessor is not cordial, gives credence to the information that Suswam may not head to APC.
The affinity was strained in the months of intrigues preceding 2015 governorship election; the moment Suswam did not endorse Ortom’s aspiration to succeed him.
Ortom has, out of frustration decamped from PDP and pitched tent with APC, where he eventually emerged the party’s governorship candidate for the election and subsequently became the governor.
The media has been awash with reports of accusation and counter-accusation of fraud leveled against Suswam by the Ortom administration since its inception.
Keen observers of events in the state claimed that Ortom had at most forum accused Suswam of running the state aground financially with mind bugging figures being bandied around by the state governor and his party, as having been misappropriated.
Thus, it has been a cat and mouse relationship between them ever since
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Ekweremadu to be booted out- APC Senators

Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has been told in clear terms that he risks losing his coveted seat unless he defects from his party to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ekweremadu was elected into that office in 2015 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
it was gathered that APC Senators, predominantly those in the Unity Forum, are making a daring move to wrest power from Ekweremadu.
It was learnt that some APC Senators are already scheming to battle Ekweremadu, if the current efforts to convince the Deputy Senate President to defect to the ruling APC do not materialise.
Giving an insight into the scheming against Ekweremadu, Senator Kabir Marafa, a formidable member of the Unity Forum, said that if the Deputy Senate President defects to APC, there might be no need to make a move for his seat.

Marafa insisted that Ekweremadu’s continuous stay in office was depriving the APC of what rightly belongs to it.
In the words of Sen. Marafa, “Let me call the Deputy President of the Senate, Ekweremadu to defect to APC. If he defects, it will seal everything and there will not be any problems again. Ekweremadu’s seat is the only one we are contesting. That seat belongs to us in the APC. He came from the PDP to take the seat.
“If he just accepts and defects to APC, everything will be fine. Instead of moving against his seat, let him join us now. Tell him to join APC. When he refuses to join APC, you can then come back here and ask me what to do next. He has the golden opportunity to join us. The constitution says that when there is crisis in a party, anybody can defect. As a person, I do not want to move against Ekweremadu’s seat,” Sen. Marafa said.

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Congo ex-presidential candidate arrested – police

A Congolese opposition leader who unsuccessfully challenged President Denis Sassou Nguesso at the polls has been arrested, a police source told AFP on Tuesday.
“I can confirm 100% that Mr [Andre] Okombi Salissa has been arrested,” the source said.
Okombi Salissa, 55, had been placed under house arrest three months after the March 2016 vote, which swept Sassou Nguesso back into power.
He then escaped and went into hiding for several months.
In December, prosecutor Andre Ngakala Oko asked Congo’s National Assembly to lift Okombi Salissa’s parliamentary immunity, to enable the courts to prosecute him for illegal possession of weapons of war.


Along with four other opposition figures, Okombi Salissa had sought to stop 73-year-old Sassou Nguesso from returning to power in March.
Another candidate, General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, has been in custody since June after being charged with “breaching internal state security” and illegal possession of weapons.
Although he was minister for several portfolios under Sassou Nguesso from 1997 to 2012, Okombi Salissa joined the opposition shortly before a constitutional referendum in 2015.
Congo has been on edge since the referendum ended a two-term limit on presidential mandates, allowing the head of state to extend his three-decade grip on power.

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Niger Delta militant group announces resumption of hostilities

The Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders, NDRC, a militant group in the Niger Delta, yesterday, joined the Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, in declaring its plan to resume fresh hostilities in the Niger Delta, following the Federal Government’s alleged decision not to dialogue with the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF.
This came as deputy governor of Delta State and Chairman, Delta State Advocacy Committee Against Oil Facility Vandalism, DSACAOFV, Deacon Kingsley Otuaro, said dialogue option towards resolving the Niger Delta crisis was still open, urging militants to abort the plan to recommence bombing of oil installations.
But NDRC in a statement by its spokesperson, WOI Izon-Ebi, said: “After a keen observation of our ceasefire, declared on the 17th day of November, 2016, the Niger Delta Revolutionary Crusaders want to resume attacks with a warning to the Nigerian government and the oil multinationals to be ready for the consequences of their oppressive and devilish politicization of the Niger Delta agitation and failure to utilize the precious intervention of our distinguished royal fathers and elders of PANDEF.”
Alleging that the Federal Government had turned the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, to All Progressives Party, APC, secretariat, it warned that the Commission “will be the first casualty of the renewed hostilities in the region because what we have discovered is so outrageous and shameful.”
The group claimed its findings showed that N80 billion which was supposed to be used in developing the Niger Delta was used to prosecute the election of a former South-South governor, while N40 billion was also withdrawn from the NDDC coffers to prosecute the last re-run election in Rivers State.
According to the statement: “We want to sound it loud again to the Federal Government that we are fully in support of the Niger Delta Avengers’ Operation Wall of Jericho and Hurricane Joshua to knock all oil operations down in the country because enough-is-enough, our next line of action is not to warn the federal government again, because we have the capacity as the gods are with us. We are freedom fighters that respect our elders, leaders, and royal fathers. But we take our directives from the gods of the Niger Delta. Any planned humiliation of our elders, leaders, and royal fathers could give room to the gods to pour their blessing to all genuine agitators and freedom fighters to defend their motherland from external aggression that is being spearheaded by the Fulani caliphate of systematic cleansing and grabbing of territories.

“We have confidence in the convener/leader of PANDEF, former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, former military governor of Old Rivers state, HRM King Alfred Diete Spiff, former governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Obong Victor Attah, both co-chairmen of PANDEF and other leaders of the group, contrary to the claim of the Presidency that the group lacked credible leaders. These are well respected leaders that control respect in the Niger Delta region. So, why is the Federal Government politicizing and trying to discredit these distinguished personalities of the Niger Delta for their sincere effort to appease the agitators and freedom fighters of the Niger Delta to give peace a chance and halt all hostilities.
“The Federal Government was never sincere, all they were looking for was just to buy time to enable them prepare, acquire sophisticated arms to commit genocide against the defenseless people of the Niger Delta. It has been revealed and every right thinking Nigerian is now aware that the Buhari -led administration is more clueless then the past administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.”
On NDDC, it asserted: “The Federal Government has turned NDDC to APC secretariat, NDDC that was established by the past administration of Olusegun Obasanjo because of the sacrifice of the Niger Delta youths for the development of the region and the empowerment of the Niger Deltans, irrespective of their political affiliation, but it has come to our notice that instead of the NDDC to be responsible to its primary responsibility of developing the Niger Delta and empowering its people, it is now used as a political machinery of the APC to cause disunity among the Niger Delta youths and its people.”
“NDDC will be the first casualty of the renewed hostilities in the region because what we have discovered is so outrageous and shameful. We are sounding it as a warning to the Executive Director of Finance directly and all board members to retrace their steps because the NDDC was born out of the blood and sacrifice of Niger Delta youths. They should be warned because they and their family members could pay dearly for this sinful and devilish conspiracy against the Niger Delta.”
Meanwhile, Deacon Otuaro, who spoke in Asaba, yesterday, said: “The dialogue option has not been exhausted, so there is no need for militants to bomb critical national oil assets as a way of expressing their grievances.”



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Yahoo to change name to Altaba

Internet search engine Yahoo, once the US’s most popular website, is to be rebranded as Altaba, and the company’s chief executive Marissa Mayer is to step down if a $4.8bn deal with Verizon goes ahead.
Ms Mayer, along with Yahoo co-founder David Filo, and four other board members, will all leave the embattled group if the deal goes through, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing has revealed.
The move comes amid news that the deal with Verizon was thrown into doubt following a fresh hacking scandal which was revealed last month.
Yahoo said hackers stole date from more than a billion user accounts in August 2013, in a separate attack from one it had previously disclosed, in which 500 million accounts were compromised.
The hack is thought to be the biggest in history, and last week Verizon said it would evaluate the situation as Yahoo investigates and would review the “new development before reaching any final conclusions”.


In the SEC filing, Yahoo said: “In light of the fact that following the Closing the Company will operate as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Board has determined that, immediately following the Closing, the size of the Board will be reduced to five (5) directors.
“Tor Braham, Eric Brandt, Catherine Friedman, Thomas McInerney and Jeffrey Smith will continue to serve as directors of the Company following the Closing, and Mr Brandt will serve as Chairman of the Board.
“Each of David Filo, Eddy Hartenstein, Richard Hill, Marissa Mayer, Jane Shaw and Maynard Webb has indicated that he or she intends to resign from the Board effective upon the Closing, and that his or her intention to resign is not due to any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”
Ms Mayer was Yahoo’s sixth chief executive, who had tried to turn round the company. She left Google to join the company in 2012, taking a pay package worth more than $59m (£48m).
She was the world’s highest paid female chief executive in 2014, and if the deal with Verizon goes ahead, is expected to walk away from Yahoo with a severance package of approximately $55m.



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Biafra: Court bars journalists from covering Kanu’s trial

A court in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, has barred reporters from covering the trial of the self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
There is huge presence of security personnel at the trial of the pro-Biafra leader taking place at the Federal High Court, with the officials denying journalists and visitors entry.
Only close family members are allowed into the court by security operatives.
The trial Judge, Justice Binta Nyako, in December ruled that witnesses would be given some degree of protection.


The trial is presently being held behind a screen guard, as journalists can only hear the witnesses, lawyers and the trial judge but cannot see them.
Mr Kanu and three others, David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu and Chidiebere Onwudiwe are standing trial on a three-count charge of criminal conspiracy, intimidation and belonging to an unlawful society.
They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
He was arrested in Lagos on 14 October, 2015 and has been held in prison since then despite various court orders that ruled for his release.
Members of the IPOB in the southeast have also held series of protests, demanding his release.

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Why Buhari sacked FRC boss – Fayose

The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described the sack of the Executive Secretary of the Financial Regulatory Council of Nigeria, Jim Obazee, in connection with the implementation of the controversial Corporate Governance Code 2016 as an afterthought and cover-up to stem the tide of negative public reactions to the implementation of the controversial law that stripped the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, and others of their positions.
This was contained in a release issued in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday and signed by the Governor’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka.
Governor Fayose said: “When they realised the implication of their action on President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 ambition, especially a personality like Pastor Adeboye that’s involved, they quickly sacked an innocent man who must have acted on instruction.
“Obviously, their attention is more on 2019, not on justice and any love for the sustenance of Christianity in Nigeria. Mind you, they have only suspended the implementation of the regulation, they did not abrogate it. It is obvious that they have an agenda. And if you look at the president’s pattern of life, he is a sectional leader, whose appointments reflect sectionalism and nepotism.”
Fayose said it was funny that a president that is over 70 years will be the one to implement a regulation limiting the age of General Overseer of Churches to 70 years, asking: “If men of God like Pastor Adeboye, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Bishop David Oyedepo, Bishop Mike Okonkwo and others cannot be GO of their church beyond 70 years of age, how do we now justify a man like President Buhari who is over 74 and still willing to be president beyond 2019 that he will be 77?”


Governor Fayose, who described those defending President Buhari by claiming that the law was made when Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was president as hypocrites, asked: “Even if the law was made before President Buhari assumed office, who is to blame for its implementation? Could President Buhari have implemented a law he does not believe in and could the sacked FRC boss that they have now used as the sacrificial lamb have implemented the law without the consent of the Presidency?”
He questioned the speed at which the President reacted by sacking the FRC boss, asking: “Why was there no such swiftness in his action on Southern Kaduna killings where a race was almost wiped out, with people killed like goats? Why didn’t the President react swiftly to the Senate indictment of the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu?
“Obviously, it was an afterthought, which was aimed at dousing the negative outcry that greeted the action by using the sacked FRC boss as the fall-guy.
“This has further made it very clear and evident that Buhari is not a leader, he is ruler. He is a religious apologist that believes that he must silence anybody that does not believe in his line of thought either politically or religious wise.
“Sadly, all those things that we have forgotten and never thought will happen again in this country are now happening. The country is now badly divided more than ever before.
“Nigerians have been able to read through President Buhari in this short time to realise that all he is doing now is to destroy this country like he did in 1984, but God will not allow him.”


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We’ve dislodged APC in Rivers – Wike

Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, has declared that the All Progressives Congress has been dislodged in the state.
Wike said that the vestiges of the APC were removed following the mass execution of key projects across the state.
The governor made this remark on Tuesday while commissioning the Ozuoba-Rumuoparaeli-Choba road in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area.
He said the APC was no longer a voice in the state because leaders of the party were only involved in anti-people’s programmes.
Wike lauded the Akpor people for giving him the traditional mandate to protect the people of the state, pointing out that he will stand for the people at all times.
“There is no more APC in Rivers State; we have used projects to dislodge the APC in the state.
“If they don’t steer clear of Rivers State, we shall cut them off from the state now that our people have given us the mandate to clear all the unwanted items.
“All those that know must not come close because my people have given me the instrument to go to war against enemies of Rivers State,” the governor added.
Commenting on the road, Wike said the Ozuoba-Rumuoparaeli-Choba road traversed three communities and two wards.

The governor said he had fulfilled the promises made to the people of the area, adding that more projects will be executed in the area.
The State Commissioner for Works, Mr. Iheanyichukwu Bathuel, noted that the completion of the road had improved the value of property in the three communities that the road serve.
Also, spokesman of the Rumuokparali community, Mr. Chris Abel, expressed the gratitude of the people the governor for fulfilling his campaign promise to them.
Reacting on the governor’s claim that the APC has been dislodged in Rivers, the State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Chris Finebone, said a thousand of Wike would not be able to endanger or threaten the larger-than-life existence of the APC in the state.
He said, “‎We believe that dream is free and Governor Nyesom Wike is free to embark on his delusion of grandeur that he is capable of diminishing APC in Rivers State. He knows that he is merely amusing himself and his motely group and he is free to do so.
“The truth remains that a thousand Wike cannot endanger or threaten the larger-than-life existence of the APC in Rivers State. If the governor hallucinates about that, then he has a high mountain to climb. Again, he is free to entertain himself in the circus show he has turned Rivers State into. It is very unfortunate.”


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Senate rejects U.S.-based don as NERC boss

The Senate has rejected the nomination of American-based professor, Akintunde Akinwande, as the head of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission.
Mr. Akinwande was rejected for his failure to attend confirmation hearing.
The decision was announced Tuesday.
Other nominees for whom confirmation was sought by President Muhammadu Buhari, were cleared by the Senate.

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