News

‘Nigerians Don’t React’, Amaechi Blames Citizens For Politicians’ Rascality

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2023

A former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has blamed the docility of Nigerians for the inability of the country to get the right form of leadership.

Amaechi was speaking at the 2023 TheNiche Annual Lecture themed “Why We Stride and Slip: Leadership, Nationalism, and the Nigerian Condition,” held on Thursday in Lagos where he was a special guest.

According to him, Nigerians know most politicians are not honest but they still go ahead to vote for them during elections.

“What is new to say, Nigerians don’t react to anything. Has any politician told you he is not a thief? Which politician told you he went to university, which politician told you she served in NYSC, and which politician told you he has his certificate?

“Nigerians know and still vote for them, so what is your problem? I say why should I speak when already there’s nothing new?

“Nigerians choose who to believe and who not to believe, Nigerians choose who to vote and who not to vote. Even if you come to a Nigerian man’s house and kill his mother, the father will continue his life. Nothing bothers you, nothing, so why should I waste my time?” Amaechi said.

The former governor of Rivers State also criticized a former Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, (NPA), Hadiza Usman, for allegedly putting out false narratives in her book titled: “Stepping on Toes: My Odyssey at the Nigerian Ports Authority.”

“The lies were too many. For instance, she claimed she was not invited by the panel. I even came with the memo of the president, where the president endorsed her removal,” the 58-year-old said.

“Count one is in the question of the fact that the panel says she is guilty; count two is due to the fact that a Managing Director of NPA with an N2.5m approval limit can approve N2.8b contract with no appropriation.”

Two years ago, then-President Muhammadu Buhari asked Hadiza Usman to step aside from her role while an Administrative Panel of Inquiry, headed by Rotimi Amaechi, investigated the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Amaechi insisted that Mrs Usman was guilty of the same crimes she was accusing him of and making concessions for the high and mighty in society.

“Why is that document not published because prominent Nigerians are involved? She gave waivers to prominent Nigerians, which she has no power to give and these are dollars accruable to Nigeria’s economy but she was bold enough to write a book or is it a pamphlet and Nigerians are following her, launching the book, so how will Nigeria move forward?

“But let’s wait until they bring the original copy because if I give you the photocopy, you will say it is fake. I will show you the original but I won’t allow you to read it because you would see the names of those prominent Nigerians that were indicted by the panel. I would rather read the areas that concern her and leave those prominent Nigerians, they didn’t look for my trouble.”

The former minister affirmed that Usman had been indicted by the panel and denied that he was purposefully behind her removal as the boss of the NPA.

News

BREAKING: ‎Court Sentences Nnamdi Kanu To Life Imprisonment For Terrorism

Published

5 minutes 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

28 minutes 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

2 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.