Nigeria and its hijackers

Nigeria is in danger of entering an unprecedented stage as a hijacked entity. In fact, the polity is in the throes of what ought to be called its proper name, a coup-in-progress. A small but desperate cabal is surreptitiously consolidating its illegitimate power grab. Nigeria has been reduced to Umaru Yar’Adua’s private toy, a plaything reserved for the sole pleasure of the man and his cronies.
As I write, Mr. Yar’Adua (whose self-appellation as servant-leader has become the cruel joke it was designed to be) has been away from Nigeria for more than forty days. Apart from his wife, and a tiny circle of associates, few Nigerians can swear that they know for certain where Yar’Adua is. All we know for sure is that he’s not in Aso Rock, the official residence of the Nigerian president. Most Nigerians imagine, of course, that the man is in a hospital in Saudi Arabia – not because it’s proven fact, but it’s simply the official line. It’s impossible to vouch for any information that comes from a government that’s raised duplicity and deception to the level of art.Forget, for a moment, that Yar’Adua’s “presidency” still reeks – despite the shameful verdict of the Supreme Court – of illegality. Worse, before our very eyes, a cabal hitched to Yar’Adua is usurping the sovereign will of Nigerians. That group is acting in the name of an enfeebled man who (at this writing) has absconded from his post.Michael Aondoakaa, Yar’Adua’s Attorney General, may not be at the center of this usurpation, but he strikes me as chief coordinator of this orchestrated conquest of Nigeria. Yar’Adua’s wife, Turai – who’s perhaps the most ambitious “presidential” spouse in Nigeria’s history – appears to be the chief engineer.It no longer startles Nigerians to hear it said that Aondoakaa is the worst attorney general in his country’s history. Nigeria has had some pretty unimpressive attorney generals, but Aondoakaa stands in a class all his own for mediocrity and crassness. Now he’s adding something even more dangerous and troubling to his resume: a facility for defending the degradation of the Nigerian constitution.

Three Malians to Soon Stand Trial in US Courts for Alleged Narco-Terrorism

Three citizens of the West African country of Mali will soon go on trial here in the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Oumar Issa, Harouna Toure, and Idriss Abelrahman were arrested on December 16 in Ghana after they allegedly agreed to transport cocaine through West and North Africa to Europe for al-Qaida, al-Qaida in the Islamic Magreb and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known as FARC.

The three organizations have been designated by the U.S. State Department as foreign terrorist groups. Lou Milione, supervisory special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said the arrests were made after a series of undercover meetings. “In the complaint, it lays out that there were series of undercover meetings where there were audio and video recordings, And during those negotiations, our undercovers, one of them presented himself as a member of the FARC. And the other undercover presented themselves as a Lebanese sympathizer or Islamic sympathizer and also anti-American,” he said.

Attention: Justice Kutigi: Gross misconduct on the part of the Justice Mercel Awokulehin in the case of FRN vs James Ibori & anor

Mr. Chairman, we are a Coalition of over fifty Civil Society, Community-Based and other NGOs that are devoted to anti-corruption crusade to free Nigeria from the pangs of unbridled corruption. We have been involved in monitoring the progress recorded in the prosecution of anti corruption cases especially those involving politically exposed persons.
We have being monitoring the case from the Federal High Court, Kaduna , Kaduna the Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State . It is common knowledge that the Attorney-General of the Federation has been using his position to frustrate the trial of Chief Ibori both in Nigeria and in the United Kingdom . In order to prevent Chief Ibori from being brought to book the Attorney-General of the Federation has caused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to take the following decisions:i. All the witnesses in the case have been removed from the EFCC and transferred to different locations all over the country. ii. Mr. Ibrahim Magu, a serving police officer, who coordinated the investigation of the case has been suspended from the Police for over a year.iii. Rotimi Jacobs Esq., the counsel who handled the matter at the Federal High Court, Kaduna and at the Court of Appeal has been removed from the case.iv. The appeal filed at Supreme Court by EFCC against the decision of the court of appeal on the movement of venue of trial of Ibori’s case from Kaduna to Asaba was discontinued without any reason. Perversion of Justice by the Judiciary Now the judiciary seems to have been co-opted into the whole intrigues to pervert justice in this case having regard to the role of the trial judge in the Federal High Court, Asaba. The misconduct of his Lordship is unprecedented in the history of the legal profession in Nigeria . We crave your indulgence by reporting to you the gross misconduct committed by the Judge handling the case of FRN V. James Ibori & Anor. at the Federal High Court, holden at Asaba, Delta State .. The details of the gross misconduct of the learned trial judge include the following

23 years later, Dele Giwa's killers-IBB and cohorts- walk free

Dele Giwa was a founder and editor of Newswatch magazine. Twenty-three years ago today, on October 19 1986, he was killed by a letter bomb sent by agents of the former dictator, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
On October 17 1986, Mr. Giwa, who was Nigeria’s most feared editor, had been summoned by two notorious officials of the Babangida regime: Halilu Akilu, former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), and Lt.-Col. A. K.Togun, former Deputy Director, State Security Service (SSS). Forty-eight hours later, he was killed via a bomb with a parcel bearing the coat of arms of the Nigerian state. He recognized it so well, and just before the bomb went off as he opened it, had exclaimed, “this must be from the President,” referring to Babangida.Babangida ruled Nigeria from 1985 to 1993, when popular protests forced him to leave office unceremoniously as he engaged in one of the most grievous acts of political infamy in annulling the nation's freest and fairest election in history. Throughout his tenure, Babangida jailed or repressed his political opponents, real or imagined, or sponsored assassinations against them. Also in 1986, one of Babangida's closest childhood friends, General Mamman Vatsa, who was the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, was accused of involvement in a coup plan. Despite a clear lack of evidence, Babangida ensure he was summarily tried and quickly executed.

U.S. Charges Six With Hedge Fund Insider Trading

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government has charged six people with crimes including securities fraud and conspiracy over alleged insider trading at New Castle, Galleon Technology and Intel Capital hedge funds, U.S. prosecutors and the FBI said on Friday.
The insider trading took place in the stocks of International Business Machines Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Sun Microsystems Inc, according to complaints filed in U.S. District Court in New York .

Federal Kangaroo Court, Asaba, Delta State

If Nigerians truly want to know what a kangaroo court looks like, they need look no further than the Asaba Federal Hight Court of Justice Mercel Awokulehin. Yesterday, for instance, Justice Awokulehin suddenly sent a summon to the lawyers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Sunday to appear before it to hear the substantive argument over a motion by James Ibori’s requesting the judge to quash his trial in the money-laundering case against him. Yesterday was a Sunday, a non-working day. Following the summons, and without public notice, the case was called this morning in Asaba.These developments are part of the inexorable conspiracy to let Ibori avoid justice in Nigeria. That would, in turn, help his criminal associates who face a similar trial in England enjoy

similar flight from justice from the law. Only last week, Justice Christopher Hardy of the Southwark Crown Court adjourned proceedings in the trial before him to enable the hearings in Asaba to be completed.When that case was called in Asaba today, lawyers representing Ibori and the EFCC engaged in a less than stellar adoption of “address” before the court regarding Ibori’s motion. Judge Awokulehin subsequently adjourned till November 6th 2009, three days before the re-commencement of the London trial of Ibori associates at the Southwark Crown Court.