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Fuel Scarcity: Students, Group Back DSS’ Ultimatum, Blasts Falana

Published

3 years ago

December 11, 2022

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Association of University Students (NAUS) and The Natives, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO), on Sunday commended the Department of State Services (DSS) for issuing an ultimatum to oil marketers over fuel scarcity in some parts of the country.

The DSS on Thursday issued a 24-hour ultimatum to relevant stakeholders in the oil industry to end fuel scarcity during a meeting with Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, (NNPCL), the leadership of the major marketers, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, (IPMAN) and the tanker drivers branch of NUPENG.

But, activist lawyer, Femi Falana, had described the ultimatum as an empty threat.

His statement had attracted condemnation from several bodies and groups including NANS, NAUS and also The Natives, whose Supreme Leader and President General, Smart Edwards condemned Falana for discrediting the DSS.

Addressing a press conference, Edwards said: “I want to categorically commend the Director General of the State Department and his team for being proactive and responsive to the yearnings of Nigerians; indeed there seems to be a ray of hope when the intelligence community rises to defend its citizens.

“We are glad to hear and see the DSS as not only restraining or curtailing threats but rising up to enforce sanity and order.”

He noted that it has now become “normal” to have artificial scarcity in the country at every festive season, blaming such on “the gang in the oil industry and national saboteurs,” who inflict “hardship on citizens to satisfy their profiteering.”

Edwards avowed: “This act of the State Security is applaudable, for rising up to the challenge, in defence of ordinary citizens, to resist any calculated plot to unleash untold hardship on Nigerians.”

He urged Nigerians to stand with its security forces to “bust the ring of conspirators and criminals, who are privileged to be in the oil sector.”

Speaking further, he said: “How can we explain that the GCEO, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, in his recent determination to sustain gains from the relative peace and discoveries in the Niger Delta, has not only been seen moving from location to location to ascertain fuel availability all over the country, he even announced that there is enough fuel in the depots to meet the consumption of citizens over this period, then suddenly scarcity emerges, to the extent that half of the roads are now blocked creating the emergence of long queues again in the country.”

According to him, “this for us is absolutely a case of sabotage and requires thorough investigations.”

He reminded Nigerians of Tompolo’s exposure in November of the conspiracy around Nigeria’s crude oil by IOCs and powerful forces with the active connivance of locals and security agencies, as well as the allegation of threat to life by NNPCL’s GCEO, Mele Kyari, in obvious reference to the existence of a powerful cartel behind this national sabotage and the plundering of the country’s wealth.

“We, therefore, condemn in strong terms Femi Falana’s statement that seems to discredit the patriotic moves by the DSS,” Edwards stated.

According to him: “This is a citizens’ problem. We must rise to the occasion and support the leadership of the new NNPCL, the DSS and every necessary patriotic effort to reposition, reactivate and revive the oil industry for the benefit of Nigerians, such that it promotes our welfare, well-being, and [provides] jobs for youths and [make us] a prosperous country.”

The group urged the secret service to go further and carry out “national operations as the ultimatum has not only signalled readiness but also capacity to halt this madness.”

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BREAKING: ‎Court Sentences Nnamdi Kanu To Life Imprisonment For Terrorism

Published

4 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Federal High Court in Abuja after being convicted on all seven counts of terrorism filed against him.

Justice James Omotosho, delivering judgment in Kanu’s trial, described him as a terrorist whose actions have led to bloodshed and destabilization in the South-East.

He said Kanu, who portrayed himself as a defender of his people, has instead endangered lives and national security.

“The court finds that the defendant, Nnamdi Kanu, is an international terrorist and must be treated accordingly,” Justice Omotosho declared.

The judge emphasized that the prosecution presented credible and sufficient evidence to prove the case against Kanu. He also noted that Kanu failed to enter a defense, choosing instead to rest his case on the prosecution’s evidence.

Justice Omotosho is still delivering the remaining part of the judgment.

News

JUST IN: Nigerian Govt Demands Death Sentence On Nnamdi Kanu

Published

4 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian government has demanded the imposition of death sentence on Nnamdi Kanu following his conviction on terrorism charges.

Counsel to the Federal Government, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, informed the court that the sections of the law under which Kanu was charged and convicted carried death sentence without any option.

Addressing the court after the pronouncement, the senior lawyer said the court has no discretion to exercise than to impose maximum punishment on him in line with the dictates of the law.

Awomolo held that Kanu throughout the trial did not show remorse for the offences he committed against the Federal Republic of Nigeria but chose to be militant, arrogant and unruly in his attitude.

He also demanded that all properties seized from Kanu be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The prosecution counsel equally demanded that Kanu be taken to prison where his security will be guaranteed till when the judgment against him would be executed.

News

JUST IN: Nigerian Separatist Leader Convicted On Terrorism Charges

Published

6 hours ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

A court in Nigeria has found separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu guilty of terrorism 10 years after he was first arrested.

The court said it was satisfied that Kanu had made a series of broadcasts to incite violence and killings, as part of his campaign for a separate state in south-east Nigeria, known as Biafra.

Kanu has so far been convicted on six of the seven charges he faced, with the judge continuing to deliver his ruling.

A relatively obscure figure, Kanu’s popularity surged in 2009 when he started Radio Biafra, a station that called for an independent state for the Igbo people broadcast to Nigeria from London.

Though he grew up in south-eastern Nigeria, where he attended the University of Nsukka, Kanu moved to the UK before graduating and acquired British nationality.

In 2014, he set up the Indigenous People Of Biafra (Ipob), a movement demanding independence.

Ipob was banned as a terrorist organisation in 2017. Its armed wing – the Eastern Security Network – has been accused of killings and other acts of violence in recent years.

Delivering his judgement, Judge James Omotosho said: “Mr Kanu knew what he was doing, he was bent on carrying out these threats without consideration to his own people.

“From the incontroverted evidence, it is clear that the defendant carried out preparatory act of terrorism.

“He had the duty to explain himself but failed to do so.”

Ahead of the verdict, Kanu insisted that proceedings could not continue because he had not yet filed his final written address, accusing the judge of bias and not understanding the law.

The verdict was delivered after Kanu had been forcibly removed from the courtroom for unruly behaviour.

He was first arrested in October 2015 but he jumped bail in 2017 and left the country after a military raid on his home. The court later revoked his bail in March 2019 and he was re-arrested in 2021 in Kenya.

The calls for Biafran independence date back many years.

In 1967 Igbo leaders declared a Biafran state, but after a brutal civil war, which led to the deaths of up to a million people, the secessionist rebellion was defeated.