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2023: Knocks, Controversies Over Continuous Detention Of Nnamdi Kanu

Published

3 years ago

November 3, 2022

Editor

President Muhammadu Buhari has been slammed over the issues surrounding the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his continued detention by the Federal Government.

Despite the ruling by the Court Appeal for the IPOB leader to be released, the Buhari administration stood its ground. It later approached the same court and got a stay of execution.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja had held that the Federal Government breached all local and international laws in the forceful rendition of Kanu to Nigeria, thereby making the terrorism charges against him incompetent and unlawful.

But the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami had vowed that Kanu would not be released despite the court ruling, insisting that the Federal Government would pursue other charges against Kanu.

This is despite the likes of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, elder statesmen such as former Governor of Anambra State, Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the late Mbazuruike Amaechi, Chief Edwin Clark among other prominent groups and individuals calling for adherent to the court ruling.

Also some rights groups such as the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law (Intersociety) had knocked the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, over the development.

The group said Malami’s activities were gravely pushing Nigeria into a regional and international abyss of mockery, which it said has far-reaching consequences on the country’s socio-economic development, regional and international human rights, rule of law and democracy ratings.

Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, told Buhari that the continued detention of Kanu, would be viewed as kidnapping and would spike other forms of violence in the South East.

HURIWA further accused Malami of acting the script of Miyetti Allah Cattle sellers, insisting that Buhari must stop playing what it described as the toxic Northern ethnic card and obey the court verdict that discharged the IPOB leader.

“Any further detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu would amount to active hostage taking and an outright criminal case of kidnapping which is actionable. We wonder why a lawyer of Malami’s illustrious status adorning the title of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria is now speaking like a one hundred-level law student of one road-side law faculty in a corner of Nigeria,” Onwubiko said.

He added that, “The Federal Government had rushed to the Appeal Court after the Federal Attorney General and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami had used media platforms to impugn and discredit the panellists who freed Kanu.”

Many other people still believe that Kanu’s release would restore peace in the South-East.

“In other democracies, when a court gives its ruling, the government or whoever it affects follows it up immediately. But that’s not the case in Nigeria. One thing the Buhari government is known for is its total disobedience to the rule of law. A court gave an order but instead of obeying the court ruling, they’re busy transferring the judges that gave the ruling and installed those that will do their bidding,” a security expert and senior lecturer in one of the Federal Universities told DAILY POST.

“People living and doing businesses in the South East are forced to sit at home every Monday and I don’t how this is helping Malami and the Buhari government.

“But just as it has been said, it appears this government does not want peace in the South East. It’s looking like they want the region to be destroyed. If that’s not the case, tell me why Nnamdi Kanu has been detained despite the court order.

“I know the APC and some people in the Buhari government want to use the situation to their own advantage. The plan is to keep the South East in crisis with the continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu so that the people would be scared to come out to cast their votes or participate fuller in the election activities. They know that the South East is the stronghold of the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi,” he added.

DAILY POST

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White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks

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3 hours ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

Efforts to swiftly end the US government shutdown collapsed Wednesday as Democrats in Congress went home without resolving a funding stand-off with President Donald Trump and the White House threatened public sector jobs.

Federal funding expired at midnight after Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, prompting agencies to wind down services, while the White House warned of “imminent” firings of public sector workers.

Senate Democrats — who are demanding extended health care subsidies for low-income families — refused to help the majority Republicans approve a House-passed bill that would have reopened the government for several weeks while negotiations continue.

Voting in the Senate is now adjourned until Friday, frustrating hopes for a quick resolution.

Around 750,000 federal employees are expected to be placed on furlough — a kind of enforced leave, with pay withheld until they return to work.

Essential workers, such as the military and border agents, may be forced to work without pay and some will likely miss their checks beginning next week. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association voiced fears for air safety as more than 2,300 members were sent home.

The crisis has higher stakes than previous shutdowns, with Trump racing to enact hard-right policies that include slashing government departments and threatening to turn many of the furloughs into mass firings.

Spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters the administration was “working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made… and we believe that layoffs are imminent.”

The Department of Energy announced plans to terminate clean energy projects, all in blue states, according to White House official Russell Vought, who said the slashed funding had been used to advance “the Left’s climate agenda”.

The Department of Transportation also froze nearly $18 billion in federal funding for major infrastructure projects in New York, which Governor Kathy Hochul called “political payback”.

– ‘Ridiculous’ –

Shutdowns are a periodic feature of gridlocked Washington, although this is the first since a record 35-day pause during Trump’s first term in 2019.

They are unpopular because services used by ordinary voters, from national parks to permit applications, become unavailable.

“I think our government needs to learn how to work together for the people and find a way to make things not happen like this,” said Terese Johnston, a 61-year-old retired tour guide visiting Washington from California as the government shut down.

“You compromise. You find ways. So everybody gives a little bit, everybody takes a little bit, and things work.”

Democrats — spurred by grassroots anger over the expiring health care subsidies and Trump’s dismantling of government agencies — have been withholding Senate votes to fund the government as leverage to try and force negotiations.

As the messaging war over the shutdown intensified, Vice President JD Vance took center stage at a White House briefing normally headed by Leavitt to upbraid Democrats over their demands.

“They said to us, ‘we will open the government, but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens.’ That’s a ridiculous proposition,” Vance said in a rare appearance in the briefing room.

US law demands that anyone who presents at a publicly funded emergency room is treated, regardless of their ability to pay. But it bars undocumented immigrants from receiving the health care benefits Democrats are demanding, and the party has not called for a new act of Congress to change that.

– No compromise –

Republicans in the House of Representatives have already passed a stop-gap funding fix to keep federal functions running through late November while a longer-term plan is thrashed out.

But the 100-member Senate does not have the 60 votes required to send it to Trump’s desk, and Democrats say they won’t help unless Republicans compromise on their planned spending cuts — especially in health care.

Senate Republican leaders, who have just one rebel in their own ranks, need eight Democrats to join the majority and rubber-stamp the House-passed bill.

They got three moderates to cross the aisle in an initial vote Tuesday and were hoping to peel off five more as the shutdown chaos starts to bite. But Wednesday’s result went the same way.

Congress is not voting Thursday out of respect for the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday but the Senate returns to work on Friday and may be in session through the weekend.

The House is not due back until next week.

AFP

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NIS Begins Crackdown On Foreigners With Expired Visas

Published

3 hours ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

The Nigeria Immigration Service has commenced a nationwide crackdown on foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas or breached entry conditions, following the expiration of a three-month amnesty granted by the Federal Government.

The amnesty, which opened on July 5 and lapsed at midnight on September 30, allowed foreigners with irregular immigration status to regularise their stay without penalties.

“With the expiration of the amnesty period, effective October 1, 2025, enforcement actions will commence nationwide against foreign nationals who have overstayed their visa or violated their entry conditions,” NIS spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The exercise targets holders of expired Visa on Arrival, expired single and multiple-entry short visit or business visas, and individuals with expired Comprehensive Expatriate Residence Permits and Automated Cards.

Foreigners caught in violation face removal, daily fines, or entry bans. Overstayers of less than three months risk deportation, a $15 daily fine, or a two-year entry ban. Those who overstay between three months and one year face removal, daily fines, or a five-year entry ban, while individuals exceeding one year risk deportation and up to a 10-year or permanent entry ban.

The Service said the measures are aimed at safeguarding national security and ensuring strict compliance with immigration laws.

Interior Minister, Olubunmi, had earlier warned members of the diplomatic corps to advise their nationals to take advantage of the amnesty window, stressing that Nigeria’s immigration laws “are not meant to be abused but respected.”

The crackdown is part of wider reforms introduced in April, including a $15 daily surcharge for visa overstays, with a temporary moratorium to encourage compliance.

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Earthquake Kills 72 In Philippines

Published

3 hours ago

October 2, 2025

Editor

The death toll from a powerful earthquake in the central Philippines rose to 72 on Thursday, officials said, as the search for the missing wound down and rescuers turned their focus to the hundreds injured and thousands left homeless.

The bodies of the three victims were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed hotel overnight Wednesday in the city of Bogo, near the epicentre of the 6.9-magnitude quake that struck on Tuesday.

“We have zero missing, so the assumption is all are accounted for,” National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council spokesman Junie Castillo said, adding that some rescue units in Cebu province have been told to “demobilise”.

The government said 294 people were injured and around 20,000 had fled their homes. Nearly 600 houses were wrecked across the north of Cebu, and many are sleeping on the streets as hundreds of aftershocks shake the area.

“One of the challenges is the aftershocks. It means residents are reluctant to return to their homes, even those houses that were not (structurally) compromised,” Castillo said.

Cebu provincial governor Pamela Baricuatro appealed for help on Thursday, saying thousands needed safe drinking water, food, clothes, and temporary housing, as well as volunteers to sort and distribute aid.

President Ferdinand Marcos flew to Cebu with senior aides on Thursday to inspect the damage.

He also visited a partially damaged housing project in Bogo, built for survivors of the 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the deadliest natural disasters to hit the Philippines.

Eight bodies were “recovered from collapsed houses” in the project following the quake, a local government statement said.

A tiny village chapel in Bogo was serving as a temporary shelter for 18-year-old Diane Madrigal and 14 of her neighbours after their houses were destroyed. Their clothes and food were scattered across the chapel’s pews.

“The entire wall (of my house) fell, so I really don’t know how and when we can go back again,” Madrigal told AFP.

“I am still scared of the aftershocks up to now; it feels like we have to run again,” she added.

Mother-of-four Lucille Ipil, 43, added her water container to a 10-metre (30-foot) line of them along a roadside in Bogo, where residents desperately waited for a truck to bring them water.

“The earthquake really ruined our lives. Water is important for everyone. We cannot eat, drink, or bathe properly,” she told AFP.

“We really want to go back to our old life before the quake, but we don’t know when that will happen… Rebuilding takes a long time.”

Many areas remain without electricity, and dozens of patients were sheltering in tents outside the damaged Cebu provincial hospital in Bogo.

“I’d rather stay here under this tent. At least I can be treated,” 22-year-old Kyle Malait told AFP as she waited for her dislocated arm to be treated.

More than 110,000 people in 42 communities affected by the quake will need assistance to rebuild their homes and restore their livelihoods, according to the regional civil defence office.

Earthquakes are a near-daily occurrence in the Philippines, which is situated on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans but strong and destructive quakes come at random, with no technology available to predict when and where they might strike.

AFP