There are indications that the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, who has been agitating for the creation of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria, may soon renounce such battle and embrace peace with the federal government, if the visit of the former Abia state governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, today, Friday to him at Kuje Prison, in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is anything to go by.

Nnamdi Kanu was arrested by the operatives of the State Security Service on October 14 last year and was charged alongside three others; David Nwawuisi, Benjamin Madubugwu and Chidiebere Onwudiwe, for treasonable felony.

Orji Kalu, who recently defected recently to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), told news men shortly after his meeting with Nnamdi and other detainees that they had given him the “go-ahead to talk on their behalf” with the Federal Government.

“I came to talk to him to talk to his supporters. I think they will have a change of attitude. We are all Nigerians. If both himself and the Federal Government are genuinely interested, we can come to a common ground. It is a possibility.”

On the decision of the Federal High Court hearing the case against Nnamdi Kanu and his colleagues to grant partial protection to prosecution witnesses, Orji Kalu said that the practice has long existed, saying: “the protection of witnesses is nothing new in law. We can do that but it may not get to that stage; if we talk to each other well. It is possible to settle out of court if both parties are realistic.

“Now he has given me the go-ahead to talk on his behalf. And if I can speak on his behalf, then the process will begin; and if things go as they ought to, we might not get to the stage of having to require protection of witnesses.

“If he trusts me and the Federal Government trusts me, I don’t see how this will not work. I know the government well. I am a member of the ruling party. So I can use my position well,” Mr. Kalu said.

Nnamdi Mr. Kanu and the three other members of IPOB are being tried at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court.

The court, had on December 17, 2015 ordered the SSS to release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally, but that ruling, delivered by Justice Adeniyi Ademola who is being accused of fraud and is currently being prosecuted, was upturned by another judge, John Tsoho, in January. [myad]

President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed happiness over the appointment of the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Amina Mohammed, as  United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary-General, next to Antonio Guterres.

Speaking with the in-coming Secretary- General, Mr Guterres who called on him today, Thursday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to inform him about his decision to make Amina Mohammed as the Deputy Secretary-General, the President used the opportunity to reiterate his support and congratulations to Mr. Antonio Guterres on  his upcoming tenure in the service.

He endorsed the excellent selection of Amina J. Mohammed as the next Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, saying: “by her appointment, Nigeria has been honored.”

President Buhari thanked Mrs. Amina Mohammed for her untiring contribution to transform Nigeria and said that he looks forward to sustained collaboration between the UN and Nigeria.

He said that he had no doubt that she will continue to make Nigeria proud at the global level.

It is expected that the Minister of Environment will be transitioning to her new role in March 2017.

In the meantime, it is expected that she will continue to lay strong foundations with various important ongoing initiatives critical to the government’s success in the Environment sector. These include, but not limited to implementation of our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Climate Agreement, the successful launch of the Sovereign  Green Bonds in 2017, the ongoing Ogoni cleanup and development of the Great Green Wall. [myad]

“I’m not closing the accounts, but if they (the Economic and Financial Crime Commission) attack my accounts again, I will make trouble with them; big trouble.”
Governor Ayodele Fayose made this assertion today, Thursday after he withdrew N5 million from his account at the Ado-Ekiti branch of Zenith Bank Plc following an Ado Ekiti High Court judgment which ordered the EFCC to unfreeze his accounts.

Governor had stormed the premises of the bank and presented a cheque to withdraw N5 million, reminding the bank manager of the court order.
The governor, who later got his money after waiting for almost two hours said: “the rascality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission must stop. And I want to thank the EFCC for obeying the court order.
“They placed order on two accounts, one has N82 million, the other has N300 million.
“I have collected N5 million now.

“If EFCC is appealing the court judgment, that is their funeral. As a sitting governor, my immunity is absolute just like that of the President. They should tell EFCC to shut up.
“There is no authority other than the authority of the constitution of this country, which I enjoy.
“Rubbishing the office of the governor is as the same as rubbishing that of the President because after the President, Governors are the next. It is their time now, another people’s time will come tomorrow. There is no place for dictatorship in Nigeria.”
It would be recalled that Fayose’s two accounts with the bank was on June 20 frozen on the orders of the EFCC through an exparte order received from Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos on the allegation that the money there in were “proceeds of crime.”
Fayose had, on June 28, challenged the seizure of the accounts in court through an affidavit sworn to by his lawyer, Barrister Bimpe Olatemiju, who prayed the court to order an unfreezing of the governor’s accounts as the EFCC’s action negates the provisions of section 308 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 amended.
The lead legal counsel to Fayose, Chief Mike Ozekhome, had also fought the legal battle with EFCC’s legal counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, for seven months, after which victory came the way of Fayose on December 13 when Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti ordered that Fayose’s accounts be unfrozen with immediate effect.
Taiwo held that the freezing of the said accounts by the EFCC was illegal and violates the provisions of section 308 of the constitution, which confers absolute immunity on the governor as a serving state executive who cannot be tried for any civil or criminal allegations. [myad]

Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, has asked the newly inaugurated governing Council of the State University to throw into farm any University professor who is found to be incompetent in teaching the students.
The governor, while inaugurating the Council in Abakaliki, the State capital, charged the Council not to take quality of university education for granted by allowing lazy and unproductive lecturers on the campus for a day longer than necessary.
Governor Umahi emphasised that those who are found to be unsuitable for the university should be empowered in the area of agriculture, stressing: “I strongly believe that those who should not be in the university can be aggregated into a committee even if it’s agriculture. Government can look for loans  to give to them for the purpose of agriculture so  that they are not thrown into the society.”
The governor recalled that professors were, during his days in universty,, flowing with wisdom and stressed the importance of returning to those days through boosting the standard of education in higher institutions.
“In my days in the university,   the quality of education was very high and the quality of the staff was very high. I therefore urge that the quality of those that give education to our children should improve.
“It is very important. when we say that somebody is a professor that his mouth should be leaking with knowledge. When you see him, he should be flowing with wisdom. That’s how we had it at the time we schooled.”
He advised the council  to go to other universities to enable them review the staff and faculties of EBSU upward or downward to make the school economically viable.
He encouraged the council members to activate the pension and gratuity fund of the university, even as he asked the university  to commence payment of the contributory fund into  a new account this month.
“I strongly believe that there is the need to activate the pension and gratuity fund immediately. That should be the first thing you have to do and so liaise with us to appoint managers of the fund .
“That is very vital and then the university starts to pay contributory pension fund into the account starting from this month.”
Responding on behalf of others, the chairman of the council and Pro Chancellor of the university, Professor Chigozie Ogbu, assured that they would do their best to deliver on their mandate.
He  assured  that social vices such as cultism, rape among others, would be properly examined with a view to coming up with a policy to eradicate them.
The high point of the occasion was the donation of two new buses to the Student Union Government of  the university. [myad]

Nigeria’s Presidency has made none sense of the Senate refusal today, Thursday, to officially confirm the Chairman of the hard-knocking Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, saying that Magu will continue to remain in acting position to run the anti-corruption body.
The Senate, on whose leadership the anti-corruption chairman had focused, threw out the request sent to it a couple of weeks ago by President Muhammadu Buhari to confirm him. The senate said that Magu was not confirmed because of what it called ‘security matter’ which it did not make public.

The Senate merely said that the damaging security report on Magu was provided by the Nigerian secret police, the Directorate of State Security (DSS).

This was even as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Professor Itse Sagay, said that Ibrahim Magu’s appointment will be renewed whether he is confirmed or not.
In a wide-ranging interview published in the current edition of The Interview, Sagay said: “Whether they like it or not, he (Magu) will be there. His chairmanship will keep on being renewed.
“Since Nuhu Ribadu left, we have not had a man with such sterling qualities as Ibrahim Magu and whether they like it or not, Magu will be there until he completes his term under the law.”
The EFCC chairman has a four-year tenure. From the EFCC Act, non-confirmation does not impair his duties.
A statement by the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview, Azu Ishiekwene, described the edition as “arguably the best kept secret in the anti-corruption war.”
In the interview conducted before Thursday’s confirmation hearing, Professor Sagay said that Magu’s delayed confirmation was “corruption fighting back.” [myad]