Angela Liu, counsel to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, says the “vigorous opposition” by President Bola Tinubu in the bid to unravel controversy around his academic records is suspicious. A US court had dismissed a suit seeking Tinubu’s academic records after Abubakar withdrew the case. Phrank Shaibu, an aide to the former vice president, explained that Abubakar withdrew the suit in order to avoid abuse of court processes. In a statement on Wednesday, Liu said Tinubu should be keen on clearing the controversy surrounding his academic records at the US institution. “Mr Tinubu should have been keen to clear up any inconsistencies in his academic achievements and set the records straight by allowing the expedition of the legal process,” she said. “If there is an explanation for the discrepancies we have identified, we would think that Mr Tinubu would be eager to provide it. “If you would like to provide an explanation to us, we are happy to consider it. That might preclude the need for, or at least expedite the deposition. “In candour, the vehemence of Mr Tinubu’s opposition to this discovery is increasing rather than mitigating our suspicions.” The lawyer said Tinubu had been counseled to join the case earlier but he chose to remain silent. She added that the president waited until Abubakar’s team submitted an “order directing discovery” of his academic records in court before indicating interest in joining the suit. “Mr Tinubu turned around a week later and headed straight to the states district court for the northern district of Illinois to apply to join as previously advised without consulting with Mr Abubakar, perceived as a devious delay gimmick,” she added. “At the outset, the applicant emphasises that he does not oppose the motion, but questions why Mr Tinubu filed it, instead of contacting and coordinating with the applicant’s counsel to submit a joint submission.”

  Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead after holding a rally in Quito on Wednesday evening, top officials said. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed Villavicencio’s death in a statement on Twitter, renamed X, vowing that “this crime will not go unpunished.” Local media, citing Interior Minister Juan Zapata, said Villavicencio was shot dead after the rally. The 59-year-old centrist was one of eight candidates in the first round of the presidential election scheduled for August 20. Lasso said he had summoned his top security officials for an urgent meeting on “this event that has shocked the country.” “Organized crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will be applied to them,” Lasso said in his post.

  Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), says he will not forgive those enforcing sit-at-home order in his name. Aloy Ejimakor, counsel to the detained IPOB leader, in a post on his official Twitter handle on Tuesday, quoted Kanu as asking him to share their conversation when he visited him. “Today, I met with Onyendu Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the DSS. He greets you all – the faithful, loyal and honest and he instructed me (as of counsel) to tweet the following (in quotes),” the tweet reads. “Any person or group of persons using my name, the name of IPOB or ESN in fundraising without my direct and express authorisation is committing a crime with my name and I will deal with such person, regardless of his place of residence. “The details of the economic empowerment day (EED) are very comprehensive and I will personally unveil such details once I am released. “The idea of endless sit-at-home has been hijacked by our oppressors as a means of rendering our land desolate and forcing our people to migrate out of our lands. “They have, through enforcing the sit-at-home in south-east, gerrymandered Igboland to now exclude the Igbos in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Kogi, Rivers, Edo, Delta and Benue. “I will never forgive any person or group of persons still insisting on, and enforcing sit-at-home. I take it that such person is merely using my name to indirectly work against my release.” The development comes days after IPOB said Mondays will now be known as “economic empowerment days” in the south east. Emma Powerful, IPOB’s spokesperson, had said the EED will replace the sit-at-home order which Kanu had recently ended. Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, had said that the state loses N10 billion every Monday to the sit-at-home order.

  The Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has debunked alleged statement claiming that she is being attacked for visiting President Bola Tinubu. The former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance in a post on Twitter on Wednesday evening, described the statement which she said was being circulated on WhatsApp as “wickedly false designed to create mischief among Nigerians.” She also asked that the statement be disregarded. “It has just been brought to my attention that there is a false statement circulating on what’s app attributed to me saying that I am being attacked for my visit to President Tinubu. “That statement circulating is false, Infact wickedly false designed to create mischief among Nigerians. Please disregard the statement,” Okonjo-Iweala wrote. Channels Television reported that the WTO DG met with President Tinubu on Tuesday at the Aso Villa in Abuja. Speaking after her meeting with the President, Okonjo-Iweala told journalists at the Presidential Villa that they spoke on ways to create jobs for young people and trying to support women and children, whom she said bore the brunt of the suffering in the country. The meeting comes two months after both leaders met in France at the Global Pact Summit in Paris hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance Minister between 2003 and 2006 as well as from 2011 to 2015, the first woman to hold the position. She also spent a 25-year career at the World Bank rising to the Number 2 position of Managing Director.

  As Heads of States of the Economic Community of West Africa States, ECOWAS, meet in Abuja today to take a position on the military junta in Niger Republic, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, 14th Emir of Kano, yesterday met with the coup leaders in Niamey, the country’s capital. Sanusi’s meeting with the coup leaders came as Niger’s former rebel leader launched an anti-coup movement in the first sign of internal resistance in the country. This is even as the French government yesterday rejected accusations by Niger’s new military rulers that it freed “terrorists” and violated the country’s air space. The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, under the leadership of South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, also kicked against the adoption of military means to force the illegal government in Niger Republic out of power. The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA equally advised ECOWAS against sanctions on Niger, saying dialogue would work better. Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, met the military leadership after the junta aborted a meeting with representatives of the African Union, AU, ECOWAS, and a top US diplomat. A delegation raised by ECOWAS, led by former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, retd, could not broker peace with the military rulers as they declined a meeting. But yesterday, footage of Sanusi, whose Tijjaniya sect has a large following in Niger, went into circulation. Sanusi is the Khalifa of the sect in Nigeria. Sanusi met the junta leaders in the company of the Sultan of Damagaran. Damagaran is the third largest city in Niger. It was gathered Sanusi went there to open doors for negotiation with the junta. One of the sources said: “His Highness took the trip in his personal capacity but with the knowledge of President Bola Tinubu, following his concerns about the impasse and the likely consequences it is already having on Nigeria/Niger relations and the citizens of the two countries.” Sanusi said he was in the Nigerien capital, Niamey, to hold mediation talks with the military leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani. “We have spoken to the head of state, the new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, and will deliver a ‘message’ to Nigeria’s President, Bola Tinubu,’’ said Sanusi, adding that he is not an emissary of the government. His message comes on the eve of a key summit by ECOWAS on resolving the latest crisis in the Sahel, which will be chaired by Tinubu. Sanusi is known to be a close friend of Tinubu, who is a former governor of his home state of Lagos. “We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria,” Sanusi said. Tinubu meets Sanusi Shortly after returning from Niger Republic, Sanusi met last night with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He arrived the Villa at about 8:25pm immediately after a high delegation of the Nigeria Islamic Ulama met with the President. Asked about his visit to Niger, the former Emir said, “I came to brief him on the details of my discussions with leaders of Niger.“ “We’ll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is not the time public diplomacy is left to governments alone. All Nigerians, all Nigeriens need to be involved to find a solution that works for Africa, a solution that works for Niger, that works for Nigeria, and a solution that works for humanity. Asked to respond to the reports that he took the initiative by himself and not government’s delegation, he said, “No, I was not sent by the government. Government officials were aware I was going, but it was my personal initiative, using my personal contacts to get there and I will continue to do my best. It is my duty as a leader to do that.” He said that he was well received by the military juntas in Niger.

  The Commander of the Ondo State Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun Corps, Adetunji Adeleye, has said the corps had zero tolerance for indiscipline among its officers and men. This is just as he said the corps had dismissed four of its officers who violated its rules and regulations. Adeleye, who is also the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Akure, the state capital, on Wednesday. “We have summarily dismissed four erring officers who ran afoul of the laws and rules guiding the operation of the corps while several others had been sent to detention centres to ensure that they conform to the norms and standard operational practice of the organisation,” he said. Adeleye added that the corps arrested about 7,000 criminals in over two years of its existence. The commander also disclosed that 1,500 of the arrested criminals had been charged in court. He said, “Other sister security agencies – the Army, the police and the Department of State Services- are giving us support. The DSS has often assisted us in getting the requisite geo-location of kidnap victims and suspects. “All these coupled with our local intellect and unconventional methods had assisted us in arresting to date, well over 7,000 suspected criminals in the last two years, out of which 1,500 of them have been charged to court. “We have even secured judgment of very many of them. At a time when the turnout of criminals was becoming unmanageable for the judiciary, the administration of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu graciously approved the building of two courts to assist the judiciary in the prompt dispensation of justice”. He also noted that the hitherto incessant crisis between farmers and herdsmen in the state had reduced by over 95 per cent in the last two years. He added, “By the time we took off, within two weeks, we received over 5,000 petitions on herders/farmers clashes. It was becoming impossible for farmers to go to their farms for fear of herders molesting, kidnapping, maiming or killing them. It was becoming very difficult for civil servants to board taxis across the town without being kidnapped, molested or robbed in daylight. The worse was climbing on Okada. “The first area of attack by Amotekun was the herders/farmers clashes. We started with mass public enlightenment that farmers have the right to plant and herders the right to rear their cows but they don’t have the right to infringe on the business of the other one. After this, we called the meeting of the Miyetti Allah group in the state and in the South West and we explained the position of the corps, giving a deadline after which we announced that we will commence enforcement.”

  A 45-year-old suspect, Bankole Oginni, arrested by police detectives in Ondo State for the murder of his ex-lover, has given reasons for his action. It will be recalled the suspect reportedly committed the crime at his residence in the Danjuma area of Akure, after inviting the victim to his house.   Bankole, was arrested after dismembering his lower. He was also alleged to have tied the victims hands and legs and thereafter poured hot water on her. The deceased was traced to his residence where the victims butchered body was found by police detectives. The suspect, while in custody narrated what transpired between the two, saying: “She called me on Saturday that she needed my help, being my ex-lover and I asked her to come to my daddy’s house. “Anytime she’s in need of money, being my ex-lover, I would ask her to come to my daddy’s house. And the moment she got there on the fateful day, I offered her a chilled soft drink I bought from a cosmetics shop. “I bought two bottles and I offered her one. But she had not taken the drink when she suddenly slumped. “When she slumped, I did not know what to do. So, I decided to pour hot water on her with the hope that she would wake up. “After all attempts to revive her failed, out of panic, I ripped her stomach open to remove her intestines so as to reduce the size of her remains in sack. I tied her hands and cut her so that I could throw her away.” Meanwhile, the state police spokesperson, Funmi Odunlami, said the daughter of the deceased reported the incident to the police. Odunlami added that the suspect invited her mother being his ex-lover, only for her not to return to the house and her phone later switched off. “She traced her mother to the house, only to find her lifeless body in the room(sic) of the ex-lover, her legs and hands tied and her body opened with intestines removed. Also there were patches on her body that shows sign of hot water burns.” Odunlami said the suspect would be charged to court after the conclusion of police investigation.

  Ousted President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, says he is being kept isolated and forced to eat dry rice. Recall that on July 26, 2023, the military ousted Bazoum and suspended the constitution. President Bola Tinubu, who is the Chairman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), had scheduled a meeting for Thursday after the 7-day ultimatum that the regional bloc issued for the reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum elapsed. CNN quoted Bazoum in a series of text messages to a friend as saying he had been “deprived of all human contact” since Friday, with no one supplying him food or medicine. Sanusi meets Niger Coup Leaders ECOWAS slams fresh sanctions on Niger as junta rejects diplomatic overtures According to the overthrown president, he had been living without electricity for a week, a normal occurrence for all Nigeriens after Nigeria cut off electric power in response to the coup. Bazoum said all of the perishable food he was supplied with has since gone bad, and he is now eating dry pasta and rice. Despite his isolation, Bazoum has been in contact with the outside world. Though denied the chance to speak with acting US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland during her visit to Niamey, the Nigerien capital, on Monday, Bazoum spoke with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on phone. Daily Trust had reported how Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, 14th Emir of Kano, met the coup leaders to open a window for negotiation. Sources told this newspaper that Sanusi went in personal capacity but briefed President Bola Tinubu ahead of the trip. ECOWAS will hold another meeting in Abuja on Thursday over the coup.