column
FOR Uba, Ngige is a master of propaganda and he was going to fight
back. By the time the dusts settled, Anambra State, courtesy of a
problem between just two indigenes, had lost billions of naira. The PDP
which all the while seemed to support Uba however wielded the big stick
when it expelled Uba and Ngige. Although Ngige got the court to void
his expulsion, it seemed an exercise in futility because a party is
founded on the principle of voluntary association and no court can
compel any group of persons or an individual to associate with anyone
he chooses not to relate with. And so Ngige and his estranged godfather
became the lonely sheep in a political wilderness. Uba's voice was
silenced and together with some legal pronouncements against him in
courts, he adopted the posture of sit-down-look.
Abuja - AN Abuja High Court yesterday declared that police detention of
17 alleged members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the
Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) was illegal.
In a ruling signed by Justice Josiah Baba, he stated that such an
arrest without an order of court contravenes section 35(4) and (5) of
the constitution.
opinion
Lagos - My name is Chris Nsoedo. I was born in Eastern Nigeria. I went
to primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, there. I read
Political Science at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. I later moved
out of the country at the height of the oppressive Abacha regime. I
left for both political and economic reasons because I believe that
both go hand-in-hand.
Abuja - A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday refused to admit
to bail, the detained leader of Movement for the Actualisation of
Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike and six
others.
The presiding judge, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyarko, in a ruling,
yesterday, held that apart from the fact that the investigation against
the accused persons were still on-going, she said the charges preferred
them were grievous.
editorial
SOMETIMES, man realises his descent into the abyss of ignorance
when confronted with the definite meaning of some words, which though
are recognisable but have been taken for granted in everyday usage.
Such words may suddenly turn out to have different meanings when placed
on other platforms especially, politics.
column
A Moroccan refugee was asked where he got the courage to embark on a
rather perilous quest for life in Europe as a stow-away and he simply
answered: poverty! Poverty is certainly the ammunition for the crisis
in the Niger Delta, but it has since acquired other arsenals like
injustice, political marginalisation, official insensitivity,
government naivety and hypocritical local leadership. All of these have
snowballed into a paradigm shift in the restiveness in the Niger Delta.
Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN), a respected lawyer in the country today
is Vanguard Law and Human Rights guest for the week. In this interview,
he pointed out that though impeachment proceeding is not justiciable,
but as the impeachment process in Oyo State is in court, the court
should be allowed to be the final decider. According to him while
Nigerians did not react to the removal of Alamieyeseigha, whose
impeachment was even more brazen, Nigerians have suddenly risen to talk
of Ladoja's impeachment, noting that the selective attitude will not
help the country.
Abuja - A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja yesterday rejected an
application for bail filed by the leader of Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Ralph
Uwazuruike and six others standing trial for treason charges. The court
ruled that Uwazuruike be further remanded in prison custody alongside
his colleagues namely Chibuike Nwosu (45), Benedict Alakwen (45),
Chimankpa Okorocha (19), Kelechi Ubabuike (27), Ambrose Anyaso (46) and
Augustine Ihuoma.
Lagos - Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB) has made a fresh call asking the Federal Government to release
their leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike, the national director of
Information, Comrade Uchenna Madu, and many other members languishing
in various prison cells in the country.
analysis
Dear President Obasan jo, in what appears to be a well coordinated
effort to seize the nation by its jugular and thereby make the country
a theater of violence, the momentum of activism and the unrelenting
pressure of ethnic based organizations and their militias in Nigeria,
have been on the increase in recent times. As ethnic activism is
sweeping fast across the length and breath of the country, ironically,
the Nigerian government is reacting in a tanner that either is stoking
the courage of the ethnic militias behind the agitations or suggesting
that it does not know how to handle the situation.
follow MASSOB