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IPOB: Soludo Under Attack As Plan To Release Nnamdi Kanu Backfires

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A week after calling for the release of the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has come under attack by prominent Igbo leaders and groups.

Soludo had while speaking at the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, campaign rally in Awka, a week ago, admitted that Kanu was central to the resolution of the insecurity devastating the South East and urged the FG to release the separatist leader unconditionally.

He had assured that if Kanu could not be released unconditionally, he would stand surety for him.

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Kanu has been in detention since his repatriation from Kenya in June 2021. The FG has refused to release him despite multiple court orders.

Recall that the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had on October 13, discharged Kanu of all counts of terrorism charges preferred against him by the government.

This is after the UN Working Group on Human Rights and Arbitrary Detention, had in July, directed the FG to immediately and unconditionally release the IPOB leader from the unlawful detention and pay him adequate compensation for the flagrant violation of his human rights.

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READ ALSO: Kanu Needed For South-East Elections To Hold – Soludo

The international body also indicted the Kenyan and Nigerian  for the unlawful abduction, torture, rendition, and continued detention of Kanu.

Soludo is a coward —Ohanaeze Youth

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The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, the apex socio-cultural youth organization of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, yesterday, described Soludo’s call for the release of Nnamdi Kanu as an insult to Ndigbo and a mockery of the self-determination struggle by the IPOB.

The OYC, through its National President, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, said Soludo’s call was a mere political statement to excite people, noting that his words could not be taken seriously.

According to him, the governor’s outburst was a mere show-up which lacked executive honour.

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He said: “It’s not in the blood of an Igbo man to be a coward. If Soludo is not a coward, he could have respected his office and paid a special visit to President Mohammadu Buhari and demanded the release of Kanu like Chief Mbazulike Amaechi did.

“Soludo has demonstrated cowardice. Soludo could bring out his time and write a volume of pages about how Peter Obi will not make it for the Presidency, but he couldn’t make out the same time to write to Mr President why they should obey the court order and release Nnamdi Kanu.

“I am still waiting when the Anambra governor should show bravery like a man, put down in writing why Nnamdi Kanu should be released and summon the courage to visit President Buhari and secure the release of Kanu”.

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Laundering battered image’

Similarly, Igbo youths under the aegis of Coalition of South East Youths Leaders, COSEYL, picked holes in Soludo’s volunteering to surety the detained IPOB leader saying the offer was not borne out of pure motive.

President General of COSEYL, Comrade Goodluck Ibe, told Sunday Vanguard that the former Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, boss only wanted to use Kanu to possibly launder his battered image following his recent unwarranted media attacks on the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi.

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He argued that instead of volunteering to stand surety for Kanu, Soludo should rather be mounting pressure on the government to comply with the court judgements which ordered the unconditional release of the IPOB leader.

READ ALSO: Kanu Family Reacts To Soludo’s Appeal

“The demand is not borne out of a genuine desire to defend Igbo interest but to enhance his political interest. Soludo just wants to use Nnamdi Kanu for political advantage and to launder his image”, he asserted.

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Soludo not sincere —INC

Igbo National Council, INC, through its National President, Chilos Godsent, on its part, stated that Soludo was not sincere in his demand for the IPOB leader’s release.

According to INC, Soludo’s action was an attempt to repair his alleged battered image in Anambra State.

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He stressed that Kanu had since been discharged and acquitted by a competent court and there was no need for anybody to beg for his release.

The pro-Igbo group said: “The INC views the demand as a political strategy for Soludo to regain his bartered political image and reputation.

“Nigerians will recall that Soludo has lost popularity and acceptance in his state and South East since his open opposition against the candidature of Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP.

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Soludo is not sincere. His call is part of his media populist strategy to deceive the Igbo Nation and Nigerians at large.”

Call unnecessary — Okeke, ex-PSC boss

For Chief Simon Okeke, a former Chairman of the Police Service Commission, PSC, the call by the Anambra governor was unnecessary since he has been discharged and acquitted by the court.

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He, however, agreed with Soludo that Kanu’s release would ensure peaceful elections in the South-East as IPOB is not against the election in the region.

“Soludo’s readiness to sign surety for the release of Kanu is unnecessary since he has been discharged and acquitted by the court. The continued detention of Kanu is a breach of fundamental human rights because he has been discharged and acquitted of all charges.

“So Nnamdi Kanu should be released without further delay, that is my view and it should be the view of every responsible and peace-loving Nigerian, I believe strongly that his release will ensue peaceful election in South East as IPoB is not against elections in the region”, he stated.

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FG’s silence worrisome — Okoro

Meanwhile, Professor Okee Okoro of the Department of Library and Information Science, Imo State University, Owerri, expressed dismay over the silence of the FG on Soludo’s request.

He said: “As a premier governor statesman, it is unbelievable that the government remained askance and adamant to Soludo’s presentation. We urge the FG to respect the judgements of courts of competent jurisdictions; pleas of well-meaning persons across the globe; appeals by ebullient individuals and stakeholders as a way of restoring peace in the South-East and Nigeria”.

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READ ALSO: Biafra: Soludo Calls For Release Of Nnamdi Kanu

Welcome development — Ezeife

But for a former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Soludo’s demand was a welcome development and a call that should be fully supported by other Igbo leaders.

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According to Ezeife, the cases against Kanu “have been quashed. We, therefore, beg President Buhari to release the IPOB leader, especially and because of the 2023 election, and for it to go well in South East and for people not to be afraid of coming out to vote.”
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UK Is A Home, Not Hotel, Kemi Badenoch Tells Immigrants, Starmer’s Govt

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UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government over its immigration policy, declaring that Britain is “a home, not a hotel.”

Badenoch accused Labour of weakening the country’s borders and enabling mass automatic citizenship.

In a 1:11-minute video posted on her official X account on Friday, Badenoch claimed Labour’s proposed reforms could allow up to two million immigrants to automatically qualify for British citizenship starting next year.

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READ ALSO:Badenoch Unveils Strict UK Immigration Plan, Targets 150,000 Yearly Deportations

“From next year, two million immigrants can automatically claim British citizenship. Two million people! That’s nearly twice the population of Birmingham. That’s massive,” Badenoch said in the video.

Badenoch noted that the Conservative Party has introduced a deportation bill to bring immigration down.

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NDLEA intercepts drugs hidden in snails, others meant for UK, US, DRC
Among the measures she endorsed in the video were deporting all foreign criminals, mandatory age checks, no more pretending to be kids, tougher visa rules and salary thresholds, disapplying the Human Rights Act to immigration cases, and no more abusing human rights laws to judge deportations. Make asylum support repayable, and no permanent right to stay in the UK if you’ve relied on benefits.

READ ALSO:Badenoch Slams UK’s Palestine Recognition Decision As ‘Absolutely Disastrous’

Until that’s law, we won’t fix this. Labour should adopt it now. It’s time to get tough. That’s what the Conservatives’ Deportation Bill delivers, and we’re going to go further. Our country is a home, not a hotel. And if we don’t defend it, no one else will.”

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In the caption that came with the video, she tweeted, “Labour has blocked every single measure we’ve put forward to cut immigration and stop abuse of the system.

“Now they’re pushing one half-arsed proposal — it’s weak; it won’t work. It’s time they stopped playing games and backed our Deportation Bill.”

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King Charles To Pray With Pope Leo In Historic Vatican Visit

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King Charles III will on Thursday meet Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and make history as the first head of the Church of England to pray publicly with the pontiff for five centuries.

The 76-year-old monarch, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England, arrived in Rome on Wednesday evening with his wife, Queen Camilla, for what Buckingham Palace described as a “historic” state visit.

It will be Charles’s first meeting with Leo since the US-born pope took over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, following the death of Pope Francis.

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The royals will arrive at the Apostolic Palace at 10.45am (0845 GMT) for private talks with the pope.

READ ALSO:King Charles III To Visit Vatican Next Week

The king and queen will then join an ecumenical service at midday (1000 GMT) in the Sistine Chapel led by Pope Leo and the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, currently the senior cleric of the Church of England.

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Broadcast live by Vatican media, it will be the first time a reigning English or British monarch has prayed publicly with a pope since English king Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534.

Triggered by the pope’s refusal to annul the king’s marriage so he could marry another woman, the schism made the monarch head of the separate Church of England.

Thursday’s service, held beneath Michelangelo’s spectacular ceiling frescoes, will be centred on conservation and protecting the environment, a cause championed by Charles.

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READ ALSO:King Charles To Knight David Beckham For Football, Charity Work

It will bring together Catholic and Anglican traditions, with the choir from the Sistine Chapel joined by that from Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, one of the king’s residences.

– Schism –

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The religious break between London and Rome remains, even if there has been a significant rapprochement in recent decades.

In 1961, the late Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’s mother, became the first British monarch to visit the Holy See since the split.

The law was changed in 2013 so that marrying a Catholic would no longer disqualify someone from becoming monarch — although they still have to be a Protestant themselves.

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The rapprochement is important because “Anglicanism was born in reaction to the Catholic Church, and therefore in opposition,” said Hyacinthe Destivelle, a French priest and member of the Vatican’s dicastery (department) for promoting Christian unity.

READ ALSO:King Charles III To Visit Vatican Next Week

This is no longer the case, despite “theological differences in recent decades”, he told AFP.

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Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England — the mother church of the world’s 85-million-strong Anglican community — ordains women and allows priests to marry.

Sarah Mullally was recently named the first female archbishop of Canterbury, the Church’s top cleric, although she has yet to officially take up her post.

– Royal Confrater –

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Charles and Queen Camilla are also set to take part in a service at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, one of four major papal basilicas, which has historic links with the English crown.

READ ALSO:Police Bust Child Trafficking Syndicate In Rivers, Rescue Babies

The king will be made a “Royal Confrater” of the basilica and presented with a specially designed seat for use by him and future British monarchs.

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Charles has visited the Vatican several times and met privately with Pope Francis on April 9, just days before the pontiff’s death.

The king sent his son and heir, William, to the funeral and his brother, Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, to Leo’s inauguration mass.

The visit comes as the Catholic Church celebrates the Jubilee, a year-long event held every 25 years, which has drawn millions of pilgrims to the Vatican.

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It also comes at a delicate time for Charles, following new revelations about his brother Prince Andrew, who is mired in a scandal surrounding late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew announced on Friday that he would relinquish his title as Duke of York, reportedly under pressure from Charles. He had already stepped back from royal duties in 2019.

AFP

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One Dies As Woman Trying To Kill Cockroach Sets House On Fire

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South Korean police have stated that a woman in her 20s set her apartment building on fire while trying to kill a cockroach with an improvised flamethrower.

Local media reports that the woman attempted to burn the insect using a lighter and a flammable spray, saying she had used the same method before. However, items in her home caught fire on Monday, spreading to other parts of the building.

Police in the northern city of Osan said they will seek an arrest warrant for the woman, who could be charged with accidentally starting a fire and causing death by negligence.

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READ ALSO:Lagos Fire Service Rescues Woman From 60-foot Well In Ikorodu

According to the BBC, one of the woman’s neighbours, a Chinese national in her 30s, died while trying to escape the blaze. The victim lived on the fifth floor of the building with her husband and their two-month-old baby.

When the fire broke out, the couple opened their window and called for help. They handed their baby to a neighbour on the adjacent block before attempting to escape. The husband managed to climb over, but the woman fell from the window. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead hours later.

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Police said they believed the couple tried escaping through the window because thick smoke from the fire had blocked the stairway.

READ ALSO:Senate Approves Life Imprisonment For Child Defilement Convicts

The building houses commercial shops on the first floor and 32 residential units from the second to fifth floors. Eight other residents also suffered from smoke inhalation.

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Using blowtorches or homemade flamethrowers to kill cockroaches has become a trend on social media. In 2018, an Australian man set fire to his kitchen while attempting to exterminate cockroaches with a similar device.

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