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There’ll Be No Election If You Fail To Release Nnamdi Kanu In 2022 – Ohanaeze Warns Buhari

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Ohanaeze warns Buhari there will be no election in 2023 if Nnamdi Kanu is not freed in 2022.

 

If President Muhammadu Buhari fails to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in 2022, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has warned that there will be no elections in 2023.

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The group also advised Igbos to arm and prepare themselves for a more difficult 2022 with the same virtue and mental toughness that let them endure oppression, intimidation, and arm-twisting all across the world, particularly in Nigeria.

 

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Ohanaeze’s Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, said in a statement that Igbos must be prepared for the dreadful and startling things that lie ahead, while hoping for a bright future, underlining that “there will be attempts to dash Igbo’s political hope for 2023.”

 

Ohanaeze said that Igbos will not be given the opportunity to fly the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential flags but added that natural occurrences will not only favour Ndigbo but re-position them.

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The group said it believes that Igbos are destined to emancipate Nigeria from all ailments and maladies withholding her to regain her global status of Giant of Africa.

 

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“President Muhammadu Buhari should release Nnamdi Kanu in 2022, to authorize peace, security, and stability to return to southeastern Nigeria.

 

READ ALSO: Osun Lawmakers Seek Adeboye’s Intervention On Aregbesola, Oyetola Feud

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“But if he’s not released in 2022 as being championed by Northern leadership (Arewa consultative forum and Northern Elders Forum), there will be no 2023 elections in Eastern Nigeria with the evidence of sit-at-homes in the East and it will deteriorate the security challenges of Southern Nigeria.

 

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“Buhari cannot shy away from releasing Nnamdi Kanu, it will help to obliterate the negative impression of Nigeria in the eyes of the International Community, and restore the dignity of Nigeria, and re-admit her amongst the commit of Nations.”

 

It added, “In 2023, we are committed to the Nigeria President of Igbo extraction as a result of addressing the equity, fairness and obeying the gentleman agreement of Rotational Presidency reached by Nigeria’s Patriots in 1999, which has helped to stabilize the country.

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“It will be unwise to scuttle it now it favors Ndigbo, we will commence the political journey of 2023 with persuasive visits to all the geopolitical zones of the country by January 13, 2023.

 

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“But in the case of conspiracy, sabotage, and denial of Igbo the 2023 Presidential tickets in APC and PDP, both the conspirators and saboteurs will only be available for the doomsday and may not superintendent the affairs of the country in 2023, as secessionist groups will be strengthened and unified by the evidence of political neglect, marginalization, and enslavement of Eastern Nigeria.”

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Afghanistan’s Taliban Release US Citizen

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Afghanistan’s Taliban government released an American citizen from detention on Sunday, a week after freeing an elderly British couple.

In a statement, the ministry identified the detainee as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, Washington’s special envoy on hostages.

Boehler made a rare visit to Kabul earlier this month to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Taliban government.

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The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan released an American citizen named Amir Amiri from prison today,” the Foreign Ministry on X, using the official name for the government.

“The Afghan government does not view the issues of citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve issues through diplomacy.”

READ ALSO:Taliban Detains 14 For Playing Music, Singing At Afghanistan Private Gathering

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Little is known about Amiri’s case, as it has not been widely reported.

An official with knowledge of the release said Amiri, who is 36, “had been detained in Afghanistan since December 2024”.

The official added that Amiri would stop briefly in Doha, Qatar for medical checks before continuing back to the United States.

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the release of Amiri, said he had been “wrongfully detained” in Afghanistan, and thanked Qatar for helping to get him freed.

President Donald Trump “has made it clear we will not stop until every American unjustly detained abroad is back home,” Rubio wrote on X.

In January two Americans were freed in exchange for an Afghan fighter, Khan Mohammed, who was convicted of narco-terrorism in the United States.

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READ ALSO:Taliban Court Publicly Flogs Woman For Illicit Relationship, Running Away From Home

Another American, airline mechanic George Glezmann, was freed after more than two years in detention during a March visit to Kabul by Boehler.

At least one other US citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is being held in Afghanistan. The United States is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

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The Taliban authorities deny any involvement in his 2022 disappearance.

Just a week ago, Britons Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, were released from a Kabul prison after almost eight months in detention. The Taliban authorities did not say why they were detained.

The couple was arrested in February and first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.

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READ ALSO:1.4 Million Girls Banned From Afghan Schools Since Taliban Return – UNESCO

The couple married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. They also became Afghan citizens.

All the releases have been mediated by Qatar.

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Both the US and the UK, like many other Western nations, warn against all travel to Afghanistan.

Russia is the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban government, which has imposed a strict version of Islamic law and been accused of sweeping human rights violations.

Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the group returned to power in August 2021, when most embassies withdrew their diplomatic presence.

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The Taliban government says it wants to have good relations with other countries, notably the United States, despite the 20-year war against US-led forces.

 

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One Dead, Several Injured After US Shooting, Fire At Mormon Church

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One person was killed and several others injured Sunday after a shooter targeted a Mormon church in the US state of Michigan, where the building was also set on fire, authorities said.

The suspect, a 40-year-old man from a nearby town, was shot dead by law enforcement after the attack, police said, without specifying any possible motive.

President Donald Trump called the shooting “horrendous” and said on his Truth Social platform it “appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America.”

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Images from the scene showed emergency services escorting people on stretchers and a large plume of dark smoke at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township.

READ ALSO:Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

Local police chief William Renye told reporters the suspect drove his vehicle through the front doors of the church and then began firing at people inside with an assault rifle.

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He said the service was active with “hundreds of people within the church.”

Authorities believe the gunman also deliberately set fire to the church before he was killed by responding police officers, Renye said.

Ten gunshot victims were transported to hospital, including one who has died, the official said.

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READ ALSO:US Lifts Restrictions On Visa Validity For Ghanaians, Leaves Nigeria’s Unchanged

He added that the fire had been extinguished but that “we do believe that we will find additional victims once we have that scene secure.”

A woman who lives near the church told AFP: “My husband heard people screaming, one lady yelling for help.”

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FBI agents are on the scene to assist the investigation, chief Kash Patel said on X.

Violence in a place of worship is a cowardly and criminal act. Our prayers are with the victims and their families during this terrible tragedy,” he wrote.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also said she had been briefed on the incident.

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Head Of Mormon Church Is Dead

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Russell Nelson, who headed the Mormon church since 2018, died on Saturday night at age 101, the church announced.

“With sorrow we announce that Russell M. Nelson, beloved President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away peacefully… at his home in Salt Lake City,” it said in a statement, using the church’s official name.

The former heart surgeon was “the oldest president in the history of the Church,” the statement added, without specifying a cause of death.

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Utah Republican senator Mike Lee lauded Nelson as a “bold, visionary leader prepared by God to testify of Jesus Christ in the very times in which we now live.”

READ ALSO:Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Nelson became the 17th president of the Church in January 2018 at age 93, succeeding Thomas Monson.

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Before becoming president, Nelson successfully pushed for the church to label same-sex married couples as “apostates” and bar their children under the age of 18 from religious rites, including baptisms — though that policy was scrapped after he took on the role.

He also broke with his predecessors and cautioned against using shorthands “LDS” or “Mormons” to refer to the church.

Nelson’s successor will be chosen after his funeral by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who like the church’s president are considered prophets by believers.

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READ ALSO:Brazilian Jazz Legend, Hermeto Pascoal, Is Dead

The religious leader is survived by his wife, eight of his children, 57 grandchildren and more than 167 great-grandchildren, according to the church.

Founded in 1830, the Mormon church considers itself a Christian body, but bases its doctrines on the Book of Mormon, a text purporting to contain a fuller version of the words of Jesus Christ than that recorded in the Bible.

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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims a total membership of more than 17.5 million people.

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