Buhari receives Boko Haram Flag, showers encomium on Nigeria Army

President Muhammadu Buhari is very excited that the Nigerian Army has been able to route out Boko Haram terrorists from Sambisa forest

- The president, while receiving the official flag of Boko Haram leader, Abu Shekau, asked the Army to help stop agitations in the east, Niger Delta and north-east

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that he would no longer condone the violence and ‘political madness in the north-east, Niger Delta and the eastern parts of the country.

“All these political madness in the North East, the Niger Delta or in the East should not be allowed to cause division or any form of tension in the country.

“There are 250 ethnic groups, so keeping Nigeria one is a task that must be done, even for your personal reason you must make sure this country remains united and stronger,” the president said after receiving the official flag of Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, from General Tukur Buratai, the Chief of Army Staff.

In the north-east, Nigeria is faced with the issues terrorism, in the east, it has agitators including the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). In the Niger Delta, it is bedeviled by problems of militancy.

Buhari was hosted by the Nigerian Army to its Guards Brigade Regimental Dinner where he was presented with the flag recovered at Camp Zero in Sambisa forest, Borno state after its capture by the army.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also that the Theatre Commander, Major-General Leo Irabor, had disclosed that ‎about 1,240 suspected Boko Haram terrorists were arrested during the operation by troops inside the Sambisa forest.

Buhari challenged the armed forces to continue to ensure the unity of the country reminding them that no part of Nigeria can hold it hostage.

He further noted that Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups and must therefore be made a peaceful country for its citizens.

“We will do our best to build the national institutions in the country,” he said.

On his Facebook wall, the president also said: "Yesterday night I attended the Guards Brigade Regimental Dinner Night, at the Guards Brigade Scorpion Mess. Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Tukur Buratai presented the Boko Haram flag, recovered from Camp Zero, Sambisa Forest, when the Nigerian Army captured it last week.

"I also had a chance to do something that has become an annual tradition - briefly direct the Guards Brigade Band.

"And then one very important moment - the opportunity to express gratitude, on behalf of the entire nation, to Major General Leo Irabor, Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military operation against Boko Haram.

"Our gallant troops made us proud in 2016, and I'm confident that 2017 will be full of even more heroic exploits."

Inspector General of Police has been called upon to intervene in the alleged lesbian sex tape of the winner of Miss Anambra 2015, Miss Chidinma Okeke.

MISS Anambra 2015 sex tape scandal

The Inspector General of Police Mr. Ibrahim Kpodum Idris has been called upon to intervene in the raging controversy surrounding the genuineness, circumstances and the individuals that led to the leakage of an alleged lesbian sex tape of the winner of Miss Anambra 2015, Miss Chidinma Okeke.

Okeke is currently embroiled in a lesbian sex tape scandal, which has since gone viral on the internet, which shows her on a lesbian act with Ada,who is reportedly one of her close friends and happens to be her personal assistant and also the 3rd runner up at the queen of democracy 2014.

The National Coordinator of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement issued on Friday, requested that the country’s policing institution must not stand by and allow alleged blackmailers have a field day, even as the rights group asked for measures to safeguard the life of the embattled Miss Anambra 2015.

HURIWA also dismissed as hasty and totally unacceptable, the decision of the organizers of the Miss Anambra Beauty pageant to hurriedly announce the dethronement of Miss Okeke as the reigning Miss Anambra beauty queen even before the law enforcement authorities could conclusively verify the authenticity or otherwise of the so-called lesbianism sex tape and the motive for the leakage.

It affirmed that the Jungle justice meted out on the young Nigerian girl on the basis of an alleged sex tape that has not being forensically investigated and conclusively verified and the entire gamut of the ulterior motivation for the leakage uncovered, is completely antithetical to the principle of rule of law as enshrined in section 36 (5) of the Nigerian Constitution which states “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty; Provided that nothing in this section shall invalidate any law by reason only that the law imposes upon any such person the burden of proving particular facts.”

The rights group expressed trepidation at the reported decision of Miss Okeke to stay away from a pre-planned media briefing for fear of her life since she alleged a plot to eliminate her if she discloses the underlying facts behind the entire controversial sex tape.

HURIWA called on Governor Willie Obiano as the Chief Security Officer of Anambra State to also take measures to prevent any attempt at silencing the embattled beauty queen.

It noted that a statement signed by the Chairman, Chief Executive of Anambra Broadcasting Service, ABS, organizers of the pageant, Nze Uche Nworah disowned the queen for her action in the video , saying that the pageant was set up to maintain high moral standard and to empower young ladies from the state.

The rights group further averred; “We use this medium to urge the Inspector General of police to personally step into this matter of Miss Anambra 2015 sex tape scandal by First and foremost deploying the best forensic investigators to conduct transparent, open and an acceptable investigation with a view to unraveling the person and circumstances behind the leakage of the sex tape and the reported threats to the life of Miss Anambra 2015 winner- Miss Chidinma Okeke.”

Judges must step down for trial- Presidency Insist

     
             Judges must step down for trial
                   -Presidency Insist

Why DSS won’t give NJC evidence 
NJC to act before CJN’s exit
Council bars judges from taking gifts

The Presidency is insisting that two Supreme Court Justices and four others must step aside ahead of their trial for alleged corruption, it was learnt last night.

It also faulted Chief Justice Mahmud Mohammed’s claim that the Judiciary had issues with the Department of State Services (DSS), not the Federal Government.

It was also learnt that the DSS refused to release the evidence against the judges under probe to the National Judicial Council (NJC) in order not to prejudice their trial.

Those under investigation by the DSS are two Supreme Court Justices -Justice Sylvester Ngwuta and Justice Inyang Okoro; the suspended Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mohammed Ladan Tsamiya, who was picked up in Sokoto; Justice Adeniyi Ademola (Federal High Court); the Chief Judge of Enugu State, Justice I. A. Umezulike;  Justice Kabiru Auta of Kano State High Court;  Justice Muazu Pindiga (Gombe State High Court);  Justice Bashir Sukola and  Justice Ladan Manir, from the Kaduna State High Court.

Of the nine judges, the NJC has recommended sanctions for Justice Tsamiya; Justice. Umezulike and Justice Kabiru Auta.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) is investigating six judges of the Federal High Court. They are: Justices Mohammed Nasir Yunusa; Hyeladzira Ajiya Nganjiwa; Musa Haruna Kurya; Agbadu James Fishim; Uwani Abba Aji; and Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia.

But the NJC has refused to suspend six of the judges because, according to the Judicial agency, the DSS is yet to submit petitions and evidence against them.

The government however said the judges must step aside to clear their names instead of facing trial while on the bench.

A top government source, who spoke in confidence, said: “The government has made its position known to the CJN. On why the judges should step aside ahead of their trial. The government will not yield ground on this.

“If we go ahead to arraign them in court, the same CJN and NJC will accuse the government of desecrating the Judiciary. The right step now is to allow the judges to face trial and clear the allegations against them.

“It is unfortunate that what the CJN told the government on how to handle the case of the judges was different from the statement he issued.

“We are suspecting that the CJN might be under pressure from his colleagues or he wants to leave the fate of the judges to his successor.

“He cannot rationalise by making a distinction between the Federal Government and the DSS. The government was in support of the sting operations of the security agency. So, the DSS did not act unilaterally.

“We will not take up issues with the CJN because the Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), some former Supreme Court Justices and the Body of Benchers have supported the position of the government that the judges should step aside.”

The source added: “Some of the judges in their letters to the CJN admitted having huge cash at home as if their houses are banks. In some jurisdictions, no judge can have up to $5,000 dollars at hand.

“We have a case of a judge who had never withdrawn a kobo from his salary account. How does he feed? Yet, the CJN was put into confidence on some of these issues at a meeting with some government officials. In what other way can the government respect the Judiciary?

It was learnt at the weekend that the NJC might meet this week or before the November 10 exit date of the CJN on the petitions against some judges.

It was gathered that the NJC session scheduled for Saturday was suddenly shifted following pressure from some quarters.

A member of the NJC said: “Yes, our meeting was postponed at the last minute because of certain circumstances. We are hopeful that we may meet this week, depending on the disposition of the CJN.

“What is however clear is that we will hold a meeting before the exit date of the CJN. We have to take a decision on some petitions against some judges before the council. One of the petitions is a high profile one.

“It is also statutory that we meet to bid the CJN a farewell and ratify some recommendations on some judges.”

It was gathered that the DSS refused to release evidence against the embattled judges to the NJC in order not to lay all the cards on the table before their trial.

The DSS suspects that there is no way the judges will not be privy to the evidence against them and they may begin to frustrate their trial with preliminary objection.

The agency prefers encounters with the judges in court instead of the NJC, which is a disciplinary body.

A security source said: “With the suspicious manner the  NJC threw away some cases/ petitions  against some judges, the DSS cannot take such a risk to make all its evidence available to the body.

“Take the case of a judge who was implicated in a N500million bribery, the Petition Review Committee of the NJC cleared him. This is a judge who admitted on tape to have collected bribe.

“It took some persistence by a petitioner before the NJC could accept to sanction the Chief Judge of Enugu State. He was retired after about four petitions against him.

“Another judge accused of demanding N200million was retired by the NJC when the law is explicit on what should be done.

“To give evidence to NJC will amount to prejudging the judges. The DSS conducted sting operations in some judges’ quarters; it believes the law should take its course through trial.

“Once the evidence are made available to the NJC, the trial of the judges will suffer a setback from the outset because they will know what the government has against them.”