Nnamdi Kanu freed

Charity Nnaji: 

Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, has regained his freedom from Kuje prison.

The IPOB leader was arrested in October 2015 following allegations of treasonable felony by the federal government.

He was held in the custody of the State Security Service till the ruling in January 2016 when the Federal High Court ordered that the detained Biafra agitator be kept in prison custody.

Since his detention, Mr. Kanu has made various applications for bail which were refused by the different judges handling the matter.

He was, however, granted bail on Wednesday by Justice Binta Nyako

On Friday, Mr. Kanu’s lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, told reporters that his client had fulfilled the bail conditions given to him by Mrs. Nyako.

By Friday evening, Mr. Ejiofor confirmed that his client had been released. Premium Times

OBJ says he was unaware of Yar’adua’s illness

Charity Nnaji:

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former President of Nigeria has disclosed that he was unaware of Umaru Yar’adua’s illness, when he selected him as his successor during the 2007 election.

Yar’adua was declared the winner of the controversial presidential election held on April 21, 2007, and was sworn in on May 29, 2007.

In 2009, Yar’adua left for Saudi Arabia to receive treatment for pericarditis. He returned to Nigeria on February 24, 2010, where he died on May 5, 2010.

His vice president Goodluck Jonathan became president.

In a book ‘Against the Run of Play’ authored by Olusegun Adeniyi, Obasanjo insists that Yar’adua’s response to two clarifications he sought from him, convinced him (Obasanjo) to go ahead with his decision.

“One, the lingering doubts about his health, while the other was a very pervasive allegation that he had a manipulative wife who had too much influence on him,” Obasanjo said.

“Not being a medical practitioner, I gave the report to a friend and renowned professional in the medical field who reviewed it and told me that the person in the report was not on dialysis, which meant either he didn’t have a kidney problem or that he had successfully undergone a kidney transplant. 

That was the report I had about his health,” Adeniyi quoted Obasanjo as saying. From Daily Post

Illegal use of Spectrum: NCC issues 14-day ultimatum to Telecoms

Charity Nnaji:

Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a 14-day ultimatum to telecoms companies illegally using certain spectrum, or face the music.

The Commission said the use of any spectrum not duly licensed by any operator is criminal and could lead to imprisonment.

Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, warned all unauthorized users of 5.470-5.725 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band to desist from doing so in order not to incur the wrath of the Commission.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission hereby informs the general public that the 5.4GHz band spanning 5.470 – 5.725 GHz frequency range is a licensed band in Nigeria,” Dambatta said.

He added that the transmission of signals or use of equipment in any form on the band without a frequency license obtained from the NCC is illegal and shall not be tolerated.

Continuing, he warned, that all concerned operators and companies or any person(s) using the band to note that it was a criminal offence pursuant to the section 122 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003 to operate on any frequency not duly assigned by the Commission.

Turkish Airlines abandons 22 Nigerian kids in Istanbul

Charity Nnaji:

Turkish Airlines has abandoned students and teachers of Glisten International College Abuja in Istanbul, Turkey, over failure of the airline to airlift them back to Nigeria as scheduled.

The children between the ages of 11 and 15, Newworld.news gathered, were made to sleep at the resting area of the airport terminal over night with just blankets provided them by the management of the airline rather than hotel accommodation.

The team, which had gone to the United States to represent Nigeria in a competition few weeks ago, were forced to part with the sum of $40 each, totalling $880 before they could be allowed to sleep in the frozen condition at the airport.

Information gathered from Communicationweek quoting a source close to the school said the team had boarded Turkish Airlines flight from Abuja to US with a stopover at Istanbul Airport. But trouble started on the return 

leg, US-Istanbul-Abuja of the flight.

Information also indicated that the flight from US to Istanbul was delayed for an hour by the same airline and as at the time the flight eventually departed US and arrived at Istanbul for the connecting flight, the Istanbul-Abuja flight had already departed.

The source said that when the team contacted the management of the airline in Turkey for a better accommodation, the airline declined, saying that they could not be responsible for their accommodation despite the fact that the flight miss was not their own making. Since the students had been stranded at the airport they have been responsible for their own feeding and other expenses, the source said.

“These are children between the ages of 11 and 15 years and are exposed to this harsh treatment. Could they have done that with their own citizens? Or, will they allow any Nigerian carrier to do that to their citizens in Nigeria? I am begging our government to take up this challenge because these kids went to represent Nigeria in the US.”

Jonathan broke silence on 15 election

Charity Nnaji:

Goodluck Jonathan, former President of Nigeria, has finally acknowledged that the 2015 presidential election was influenced partly by former U.S. President Barack Obama and his officials

He also admitted infractions perpetrated by Prof. Attahiru Jega, former chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In an advanced copy of the book, ‘Against the Run of Play – How an incumbent president was defeated in Nigeria,’ written by Olusegun Adeniyi, chairman of the THISDAY Editorial Board, Jonathan said that the U.S. government “even brought some naval ships into the Gulf of Guinea in the days preceding the elections”.

The book goes on to reveal how the previous U.S. administration undermined Jonathan’s government’s fight against Islamist insurgents in the North-east in order to weaken his government and make it unpopular, quoting Communicationweek.

“I was disappointed by Jega because I still cannot understand what was propelling him to act the way he did in the weeks preceding the election.

“As at the first week in February 2015, when about 40 per cent of Nigerians had not collected their PVCs, Jega said INEC was ready to conduct an election in which millions of people would be disenfranchised,” the former President said.

Jonathan also said he had a meeting with Jega to express his reservations about the preparedness of INEC for the exercise, but he insisted that the election would go ahead. 

Nnamdi Kanu granted bail

 Charity Nnaji:

Nnamdi Kalu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has been granted bail by an Abuja Federal High Court on health grounds.

Granting the bail, Justice Binta Nyako, the trial Judge, barred Kanu from granting press interviews while on bail, however, and also warned the defendant against participating in any rally.

The IPOB leader is also expected to provide three sureties, one of whom must be a serving Senator, a Jewish religious leader and a highly respected person, who own land anywhere in Abuja.

The Judge granted bail in the sum of N100m with three sureties in like sum.

Nnamdi Kanu was arrested in Lagos on 14 October, 2015, and has been in detention ever since, in spite of many court orders that ruled for his release.

Prostitute sells 3-month-old baby for N200,000

Charity Nnaji:

An 18-year-old sex worker, Aisha Idris has been arrested by Men of the Katsina State Police Command for allegedly conspiring with a nurse to sell her three-month-old baby for N200,000.

Addressing Newsmen in Katsina, the State Police Commissioner, Usman Ali Abdullahi, disclosed that the nurse, identified as Ogugua Oko, who works with the Federal Medical Centre, Katsina, connected her to the buyer of the baby.

Following their arrest, the three-month-old baby was recovered from one Grace Ohoho, a resident of Okuku village, Owerri in Imo State.

According to the Police boss, “Information gathered has it that Aisha Idris gave birth three months ago at the Federal Medical Centre. She conspired with her friend, Hauwa, and a nurse working with the Centre, who linked them to one Joy Ihenamere to sell the baby to Grace Ohoho.for N200,000.

“The case was reported to the command on April 10. The suspects are in the police custody.