Biafra: Court Orders Kanu’s Release From Detention

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA—–Barely 24 hours after charge against him was struck out, the Federal High Court in Abuja, today, ordered the Department of State Service, DSS, to forthwith, release ‎the detained ‎leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu.‎

‎Ruling on the fundamental right enforcement suit Kanu lodged before the high court, Justice Ademola Adeniyi, said there was no basis for the applicant to remain in custody since there is currently no charge pending against him.

The court stressed that Kanu is entitled to his right to liberty as enshrined in section 35(1) (4) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
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According to the court, the continued detention of Kanu after two months without trial, violates Section 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution.

Justice Ademola said there was no law permitting the DSS or any other security agency to detain any Nigerian beyond two months without any concrete move to try such person before a competent court.‎

The judge said available facts before him showed that the DSS was not minded to release Kanu on bail‎.‎

He therefore ordered the DSS to immediately grant ‎unconditional bail to the applicant.
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‎The court had earlier granted the DSS leave to detain the IPOB leader for 90 days.

The order followed an application that was filed before the court by counsel to the DSS, Mr. Moses Idakwo, ‎who insisted that the security agency needed the time to conclude investigation into fresh allegation that Kanu was into terrorism financing‎.

‎In a counter-affidavit he filed against Kanu’s suit, DSS, ‎said its investigations revealed that the applicant who it identified as the brain behind recent clamour for the creation of ‘Biafra Republic’, has already received huge sums of money to purchase weapons.

It told the court that prior to his arrest, Kanu, had already made enquiries about prices of all the weapons he intended to buy.
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The counter-affidavit was deposed to by a senior officer with the DSS, Mr. Ayo Ibitoye, who averred that it would be in the interest of justice, peace and order, to allow the IPOB leader to remain in custody of the security agency.
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The argument was however rejected by the high court ‎today.

‎It will be recalled Kanu who is also the Director of Radio Biafra and Television, ‎‎ was on October 17, arrested in Lagos by security operatives, shortly after he arrived Nigeria from his base in the United Kingdom.

He was subsequently arraigned before a Chief Magistrate Court in Abuja ‎over allegation that he engaged in‎ criminal conspiracy, managed and belonged to an unlawful society.
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In the First ‎Information Report, FIR, it entered before Chief Magistrate Shauibu Usman, FG, aside accusing Kanu of indulging in criminal intimidation, contrary ‎to section 97 (a)&(b) and section 397 of the Penal Code, maintained that it has evidence that he was involved in terrorism financing.
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Meanwhile, Kanu on October 19, pleaded not ‎guilty to the charge and was eventually ‎granted bail to the tune of N2million.

The court further directed the defendant to produce a civil servant of Grade Level 16, to stand as his surety.

However, the accused person alleged that the Nigerian government refused to release ‎him from detention despite the fact that he met the bail conditions.‎
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‎Moves by Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. ‎Egechukwu Obetta, to enforce the bail granted to his client by the Magistrate Court was thwarted by the DSS which applied to withdraw the charge upon which the bail was granted.

The DSS, in its notice for discontinuance, asked Magistrate Usman to ‎hands-off the matter, saying it has concluded plans to file fresh charge against Kanu before a higher court that has the jurisdiction to try terrorism case.

Consequently, the Magistrate court, on Wednesday, struck out the charge, even as it discharged Kanu.

Kanu had in his fundamental right enforcement suit, prayed the high court to set aside the order it made ex-parte, on November 11, in Suit No. FHC/Abj/CS/873/2015, which gave the DSS leave to further detain him.
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He applied for,‎ “An order of court admitting the applicant to bail and directing the respondent to comply with the order of the Chief Magistrate Court, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, admitting the applicant to bail in Suit No. Abj/CMC/CR/21/2015, between the State Security Services V. Nnamdi Kanu”.

Kanu’s lawyer contended that FG failed to adduce any evidence to support its allegation that Kanu is a terrorist, supports and finances terrorism and is preparing to take arms against the Nigerian state.

“The continued detention of the applicant in the face of an ord‎er of a court that he be released is a trespass on the person of the applicant and a violation of the basic freedoms of the applicant as guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.

“Section 27(1) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013 and any provision of that Act which empowers the court to make an order for the detention of the applicant or anybody else anytime beyond 24 hours without trial is ultra vires the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended”, Kanu’s lawyer added.

Original Article:     Biafra: Court Orders Kanu's Release From Detention

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Leading a Nation Takes Years Off Life, Study Suggests

President Obama and Mitt Romney at the end of a presidential debate in October 2012. A study found elected heads of government lived fewer years than the candidates they defeated. CreditPablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

New research may offer a consolation prize for whichever presidential nominee comes up short next November: Losing could mean a longer life.

Whether heads of government die prematurely is a long-debated question, and research has yielded conflicting results. For example, one study held that presidents might age twice as quickly as the overall American population while in office. Another study found no significant effect on the life expectancies of American presidents.

Now, the largest statistical study of its kind, examining elections held in 17 countries from 1722 to 2015, has found that elected heads of government lived 2.7 fewer years and experienced a 23 percent greater risk of premature death than the defeated office seekers. The BMJ, a British medical journal, published the paper in its Christmas issue, which traditionally features peer-reviewed papers that examine quirky topics.

The analysis tested the hypothesis that elected presidents, prime ministers and chancellors experience accelerated aging and premature death because of the stresses of political life. The authors compared 279 elected heads of government with the 261 runners-up whom they defeated and who never served as heads of state. The researchers determined the number of years each competitor lived after the last election in which they ran, and compared the findings with the average life span for an individual of the same age and sex in each candidate’s country during the election year.

The team did not specify in the paper whether the candidates who lost did so in primaries or final elections. Dr. Anupam B. Jena of Harvard Medical School, the study’s senior author, said in an email that his team defined the runners-up as candidates who were never president or prime minister but could have served in Congress or parliament or held other offices. The paper did not address whether congressional or parliamentary leadership positions might affect longevity.

Dr. Jena’s team said earlier studies of elected leaders that found no ill effects on health and longevity had sample sizes that were too small to detect statistically significant differences. So his team devised its study to overcome such limitations.

In one of those earlier studies, from 2011, S. Jay Olshansky, an expert in aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago, reported that most presidents of the United States lived longer than other American men their age.

Dr. Olshansky said in an interview by email that he welcomed the new study because it was broader and set out to answer questions his analysis was not made to address.

But Dr. Olshansky said he was disappointed by the new study for two principal reasons.

First, he said, the authors did not eliminate “causes of death that were unrelated to aging, such as being at the wrong end of a gun,” which could have affected the findings.

Second, he said, authors of the new study “provide no measure of accelerated aging” and thus could not effectively test that part of their hypothesis. Although his study began with the assumption that a United States president lost two days of life for every day in office, he still found that such leaders “did not experience accelerated aging.”

“Most of the changes we see in the form of gray hair and wrinkles observed in presidents and other political leaders during their time in office is normal aging that occurs to everyone during this phase of life,” Dr. Olshansky said. “We don’t die of gray hair and wrinkled skin.”

In addition to Dr. Jena, the authors of the new study were Andrew R. Olenski, a health care policy research assistant at Harvard Medical School, and Matthew V. Abola, a medical student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A grant from the National Institutes of Health paid for the study.

The researchers chose the 17 countries because of their similarity to France and Britain, for which reliable life tables exist dating to the 19th century. Life table data does not go back to the 18th century, Dr. Jena said, so his team estimated comparable life expectancies based on early 19th-century data. The authors cautioned that the findings cannot be generalized to other countries.

Source:     Leading A Nation Takes Years Off Life - Study Suggests

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5 Consequences Of The Climate Deal - Must Read

What Does a Climate Deal Mean for the World?

A group of 195 nations reached a landmark climate agreement on Saturday. Here is what it means for the planet, business and other areas.

The Planet

The planet is under threat from human emissions, and the Paris climate deal is, at best, a first step toward fixing the problem. Ice sheets are starting to melt, coastlines are flooding from rising seas, and some types of extreme weather are growing worse. Yet some of the consequences of an overheated planet might be avoided, or at least slowed, if the climate deal succeeds in reducing emissions. At the least, by requiring regular reviews, the deal lays a foundation for stronger action in the future. – JUSTIN GILLIS

From left, Christiana Figueres, the United Nations climate chief; United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister; and President François Hollande of France, on Saturday after the Paris climate accord was adopted.CreditChristophe Petit Tesson/European Pressphoto Agency

Global Politics

Strange bedfellows emerged during the Paris negotiations, with industrial powerhouses such as the European Union joining with Pacific island nations, and former adversaries like China and the United States swapping briksmanship for bonds to cut fossil fuel emissions. 

The pact could leave more geopolitical shifts in its wake. It could aid the economies in technologically innovative places like the United States and Japan; create economic stars out of relatively poor countries with an abundance of sun and wind for renewable energy; or leave developing countries that are slow to adjust with an energy disadvantage. 

Major oil producers like Russia and Saudi Arabia, already weakened by the slide in the price of oil, could shed some power. – MELISSA EDDY

American Politics

The Paris accord is a triumph for President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, who both lobbied hard for it, but it has outraged many Republicans who are skeptical of the extent of human-caused climate change and believe the deal favors environmental ideology over economic reality. 

The environment has not typically played a major role in voters’ choices, and the issue will most likely be overshadowed in the current election cycle by fears of terrorism, though the drought in California and severe weather in many parts of the country have raised concerns for many Americans. 

The Republican-controlled Congress can do little to stop the deal, which is not considered a treaty under United States law, though Congress would need to sign off on any new money to help other countries adapt to climate change — an important aspect of the American commitment to the accord. – SEWELL CHAN

Business

The ambitious targets included in Saturday’s deal for limiting the rise in global temperatures may help companies involved in renewable energy and energy efficiency by expanding their markets. 

Setting a high bar may also make the energy industry attractive for innovators and venture capitalists, increasing the chances of sweeping shifts in what has been a conservative business. 

The agreement may make life difficult for some of the incumbent companies like electric utilities and coal producers, whose product emits high levels of carbon dioxide. – STANLEY REED

American Citizens

The average American most likely will not feel an immediate effect from the Paris deal. 

There will be greater emphasis on more efficient electrical products, homes and vehicles. 

Jobs could be created through the construction of a new energy infrastructure, the maintenance of solar fields and the development of new transportation systems that move away from dependence on the gas pump, as Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Or, as Republicans warn, Americans could see a loss in jobs and American economic competitiveness, as developing economies with less stringent targets are allowed to grow at American’s expense. 

The deal’s intended long-term effect: avoiding the catastrophic effects of climate change and leaving behind a healthier planet. – MELISSA EDDY

Source:     Climate Change Deal

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The World Agrees On Climate Change

The world’s nations took the boldest steps yet to stem climate change, adopting an historic package of measures to limit fossil-fuel pollution and establish a mechanism to step up the reductions for decades.

After two weeks of intense negotiations overseen by the United Nations, envoys from 195 nations in Paris on Saturday endorsed a program that also set an ambitious goal to curb temperature increases and set up ways to measure and verify emissions everywhere.

French President Francois Hollande hailed the deal as the “first universal agreement in the history of climate negotiations” and “a major leap for mankind.” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who spent days in Paris negotiating, said it the deal sends “a critical message to the global marketplace.” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called it a “monumental triumph.”

The landmark program applies to all nations, rich and poor. It’s broader than the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which limits greenhouse gas emissions in 37 mostly European nations. Environmentalists said that while the Paris package is a step forward, more action is required to contain temperatures that are on track to set a record in 2015.

The 31-page accord also heals a rift between industrial and developing nations over how to act on climate change that erupted in 2009 when the last big push for a deal dissolved in finger pointing over who should take the first step.

Temperature Targets

The global average temperature this year is set to be about 1 degree higher than the 1800s for the first time, a quicker shift in the climate than when last ice age ended 10,000 years ago. Researchers say current climate-change pledges would only contain rising temperatures to 2.7 degrees Celsius (4.9 degrees Fahrenheit) rather than the 2 degrees backed by the envoys.

“The tightening of the temperature is a momentous achievement,” said Donald MacDonald, chair of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, a group of 120 funds managing $14 trillion. “Pension funds recognize their fiduciary duty to address climate risk and, where necessary, to reallocate investment away from high carbon-related activity likely to destroy shareholder value.”

The Paris deal consists of a 12-page enduring agreement that would take effect from 2020 and take in voluntary commitments from all nations, expanding on the current treaty in place sealed in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. So far, 186 countries have made pledges for the Paris deal, with nine yet to submit plans. A 19-page so-called decision text completes the package, setting shorter-term legal provisions.

The new deal also sets out goals on:

TEMPERATURE -- Calling for temperature increases since the industrial revolution to be limited to 2 degrees Celsius and for the first time challenging nations to work toward a more aggressive target of 1.5 degrees.

FOSSIL FUELS -- Says nations should work toward “a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century.” That means that greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels must be equal to those absorbed by planting trees and the facilities capturing carbon for permanent underground storage.

TRANSPARENCY -- Seeks a single system for measuring the emissions of every nation, and for monitoring progress toward their voluntary targets. Every five years, starting in 2018, there would be a global assessment of whether combined efforts are sufficient. From 2020, countries must update old pledges or prepare new ones every five years.

LOSS AND DAMAGE: A key provision sought by island nations who say that changes are already occurring that they can’t adapt to. The new deal sets up a mechanism to provide expert advice, emergency preparedness and insurance. A clause in the decision text says that mechanism will not provide for liability and compensation, paying heed to a red line by the U.S., Japan and European nations.

FINANCE -- Developed countries pledged in 2009 to ramp up climate aid to vulnerable ones to an annual $100 billion by 2020. The draft agreement says that from 2020, “climate finance should represent a progression beyond previous efforts,” without mentioning a numerical target. A separate so-called decision document says industrialized nations should continue the existing goal through to 2025, when they would set a new collective goal.

Energy Shift

The goals is to send a message to investors and governments that they need to shift away from using oil, natural gas and especially coal, said Alden Meyer, who has followed the talks for more than two decades for the Union of Concerned Scientists, a U.S. advocacy group.

“It sends a very solid signal that demand for fossil fuels is going to be reduced,” Meyer said in Paris. “The industry has to transform itself. You’re seeing that now with the bankruptcies in the coal industry, and this will accelerate that trend in oil.”

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the deal is bringing developing countries under the umbrella of the program, something the European Union and U.S. insisted on after China and India surged up the ranks of polluting nations.

Architects of the Paris deal want the goals to “ratchet up” over time. The ambitions are currently framed in national commitments on emissions by 2030, or in some cases 2025.

 The envoys asked scientists to deliver a report in 2018 about how to reach their more aggressive temperature target and put pressure on nations to deepen their greenhouse-gas reductions before 2020.

Source:     The World Agrees On Climate Change

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Jeeezzz!!!! This Is #Unbelievably #Unbelievable

A true life story...

My name is Chidubem Okwu . . . ., I am a pastor, but I have disappointed God and I really don’t know where to begin to tell my story.

I must tell you the truth. I can’t really say if I have a call or not. I was a Sunday school teacher in my church for 9 years at Kaduna. 

In 1999 I was led to start a church, but from the experiences I have gathered now I cannot say I was actually led by the Holy Spirit to start that church .

As at 2008, I was not making any progress both spiritually and materially.

I saw many churches which began several years after mine and they were making waves and are still making progress. 

At a point I did not know what to do again and after discussing with my wife I decided to approach the general overseer of a church that began 7 years after I started my ministry and explained to him that personally I was not making any headway and same with my ministry.

My ministry would grow up to 200 people and after a short period it would shrink to 50 people and at time it would grow to 150 and shrink to 40 people.

I approached him because the growth in his church was fast. 

He began the church in 2006 and by 2012 he was recording 11,000 people on a Sunday service and he was also making good money and riding great and big cars including the latest jeeps.

After listening to me, he promised to help me solve my problem. 

He said I needed to be empowered and that it is going to cost me some amount of money besides, I need to have a big and strong heart. 

Then he asked me if I have got a strong heart and I told him that I have as long as it is not going to involve killing a fellow human being. 

He asked me thrice if I have got a strong heart and I consistently gave him the same answer.

Again he asked me if I want a single empowerment or double empowerment and I asked him which one is better and he said double empowerment is better but, it will cost me a lot of money and that after the empowerment I am going to be told how to maintain and renew the power.

This time I became afraid and I asked him if the maintenance and renewal involves any ritual, he said no that whatever the renewal and maintenance will involve are just normal things that I am already doing so I should not be afraid. 

He said I should go and raise three hundred and fifty thousand naira (350,000.00) which I had to borrow from my wife.

The next day I handed over the money to him and he asked me to go and get ready that we shall be going to Lagos and Port-Harcourt. I got ready and we took flight from Abuja to Lagos that same day.

In Lagos we lodged at the guest house of a big ministry and at 11.30p.m we went out in a private car to the Barbeach. 

At the Barbeach we were at the bank when he spoke some unknown language and told me that a woman was going to come out of the water and that I should do whatever she says.

As soon as he said that, there was rumbling on the surface of the water and a mermaid came out of it. The general overseer told me not to be afraid that the mami-wata will not harm me so I picked courage when I saw her.

When she came to the surface of the water, the lower part of her body was fishlike, but my eyes were transfixed as that lower part and as she was getting close to me it became human part. 

Then she came to me and asked me to have sex with her which I did in the presence of the general overseer.

After having sex with her, she put her hand in her private part and made a sign of the cross on my forehead and my palm and told me that she has empowered me and that I will see the difference.

The mami-wata left me, went to the general overseer and brought out a golden cross and chain from her stomach and wore it on the neck of the general overseer who gave her some money. 

The mami-wata thank him and went back into the sea. 

All the time she spoke in English language.

When we eventually got back to the ministry’s quest house, the general overseer told me that we have to go to the church of that ministry because they were having night vigil and when we got there, I was given an opportunity to minister in the church and as I raised my hands from the altar the members began to fall on themselves and some were tumbling on others and I must say I was almost embarrassed because I never expected the manifestation of the mami-wata power to be so soon.

After the all night service we went back to the guest house and the general overseer asked me if I was happy the way the power manifested and I said yes.

He told me that we should go to bed and take some sleep because we shall be going to Port-Harcourt that evening.

In afternoon as I was sleeping that same mami-wata I had sex with at the Bar beach came to me in my dream and told me that to maintain and also constantly renew the power I must be having sex with a virgin once a month so this jolted me out of sleep. I went to the general overseer’s room to explain what I saw and heard in my dream and he said it is no problem.

When I asked him how I was going to be getting the virgins he said he was going to assist me get them, but I need to pay for his service. Honestly chief Apostle after this I wanted to backout, but I had no courage to say or do so.

While at the Bar beach I saw many pastors who came there with other senior pastors. It is like a tradition.

There must be a senior pastor bringing in younger pastors and I believe each senior pastor had a particular mami-wata they relate with because I saw up to ten mami-wata attending to some other young pastors.

In the evening we were at the local airport in Lagos and took a flight to Port-Harcourt. 

At Port-Harcourt we lodged in the guest house of another ministry and at mid-night we got out eventually arriving in a very big compound of a woman called Eze-Nwanyi inside the compound were many houses.

We met many pastors there including first generational churches’ pastors. 

When it was my turn the general overseer paid some money and itemized what should be done for me.

When I went into the room I was surprised it was a woman again and as I was thinking – woman again! I found myself on the woman on a bed in an adjacent room. Honestly I have not been able to recall how I found myself on that bed. 

After the sexual session she made some animal cry and administered some stuff into my eyes and I began immediately to see into the spirit world and also discussed with some spirit beings. 

After that she gave me a bottle of olive oil which she called “do as I say”. She said with this the members of my church will do whatever I ask them to do.

She also gave me another bottle of olive oil which she called “all seeing oil”. She said with the oil I can see deep into people’s secret and a bottle of olive oil which she called “slaying oil” for slaying people during prayer. 

She finally gave me two more bottles of olive oil. The first one is “crowd pulling oil” and the second one is “touch and follow” – which I will be using to hypnotize women especially virgins because I will be having sex with them and married women to renew the empowerment. 

She said I could have sex and immediately after that I could go straight into ministration without having my bath. 

She bound me with oath of secrecy.

We left that same midnight and went back to the lodge and the general overseer told me to rub the touch and follow oil and we went to the vigil of the church we were lodging in their guest house and I was allowed to minister and I burst into prophesy to my own astonishment.

In the morning two virgins were sent to the general overseer and he gave me one so we took them to the guest house and had sex with them.

What really surprised me was that the young girls never asked where we were taking them to and why we were taking them there which is unusual for virgin girls.

When the girls left, the general overseer told me that from now I have to concentrate my sermons around prosperity and stop salvation and righteousness messages. 

He said I should be sending tithes to him and that he know how part of the tithes will get to the woman at Port-Harcourt.

Eventually we left Port-Harcourt to Abuja and back to Kaduna. 

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