Tension As Gunmen Behead Two Residents, Display Corpses In Imo Market

Residents of Okporo Orlu in the Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State were shocked on Wednesday after suspected gunmen beheaded two residents identified as Felix Okechukwu and Berechukwu Udemba.

The assailants allegedly cut off the victims’ heads after killing them and displayed them at Orie Okporo market, Daily Post reports.

An eyewitness said, “They were killed in the early hours of Wednesday and the bodies were displayed at Orie Okporo market.

“The 70-year-old man is from Ududu in Orlu and was a retired motor mechanic, while the other victim, who is a palm-wine tapper, hails from Amanato-Okpuru community in Orlu.”

It was gathered that the assailants invaded the homes of their victims in the early hours of Wednesday and severed their heads.

The reason for their killing was yet to be ascertained at the time of filing this report.

ECOWAS Court Gives Buhari Government 30 Days To Respond To Suit Against Its Moves To Gag Media Stations

The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice sitting in Abuja has given the Nigerian government 30 days to respond to the suit filed by One Love Foundation seeking damages and orders to prevent the government from gagging the media. 

The suit, filed through human rights lawyer, Samuel Ihensekhien Junior on behalf of the group's president, Patrick Eholor, also seeks damages and restraining orders against Nigerian government, to prevent it from enforcing Sections 5, 4, 3, 1 of NBC code on all broadcasting stations. 

The sections relate to reportage and giving details of security issues and persons affected by insurgency and terrorism in Nigeria. 

But the group argued that the actions offend all relevant laws and the African Charter on Media and Broadcasting Rights and Freedom of Press.

The foundation had in a suit No. ECW/CCJ/APP/43/21 sought an order of court directing the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the National Broadcasting Corporation, a government agency, to desist from enforcing Section 5, 4, 3, 1 of the NBC code on all broadcasting stations. 

In a "Notice of Registration" dated July 28, 2021, sighted by SaharaReporters, the court asked Nigerian government to file a defence within thirty (30) days after service of the application. 

The notice read, "Notice is hereby given that an application between Patrick Eholor and the Federal Republic of Nigeria was lodged by the applicant and registered by the court on the 28th July 2021 

"You are required to lodge a defense within thirty (30) days after service of this application on you and take note that in default of your so doing, the applicant may proceed herein and judgement may be given in your absence." 

The suit is also challenging the clampdown on broadcasting organizations by the Buhari government and the NBC, an action which the suit said contradicts Sections 24, 33 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended in 2011), which guarantees the rights to freedom of press, expression and information as also contained in Articles 8 and 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended in 2011. 

Facebook Restricts New IPOB Page After Shutting Down Nnamdi Kanu’s Page

Social networking service, Facebook, has restricted a new account belonging to the Indigenous People of Biafra.

According to Vanguard, this was disclosed by a member of the group, Simon Ekpa, on Tuesday.

“Our new Facebook page has been blocked, restricted by Facebook,” Ekpa wrote.

In January 2020, the separatist group had alleged that Facebook shut down the page of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu.

The group had in a statement by its spokesman, Emma Powerful, alleged that the shutting down of Mazi Kanu’s Facebook page by Facebook Nigeria was linked with the fact that it had become a rich resource for people determined to expose the alleged misrule in Nigeria and the evil perpetrators of the regime.

IPOB had berated Facebook Nigeria that it was more corrupt than the Nigerian government it was defending.

It had added that Biafra suffered immeasurably as a result of denial of media space in the late 60s, warning that IPOB is not prepared to allow such suffering in the present 21st century.

Vanguard also noted that Kanu opened another Facebook account which hit 5,000 friends limit within six days, following the sudden deactivation of his official page by Facebook.

However, the leader of the group, Nnamdi Kanu, is currently facing 11-count charge of treason, treasonable felony, terrorism and illegal possession of firearms, among others, after he jumped bail in 2017 and left the country.

He was extradited from Kenya to the country by the Nigerian government as claimed by IPOB and Kanu's family.

He has been remanded in the Department of State Services (DSS) custody and his next appearance in court is October 21.

This came after Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, adjourned the case, for the failure of the secret police to produce him in court on Monday.

BREAKING: Benin Republic Court Declines Extradition Of Sunday Igboho To Nigeria, Orders Him To Remain In Cell

The Court D’Appal of Cotonou has ordered Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, to be kept in prison custody pending further investigation.

The court, however, declined the extradition of Igboho to Nigeria.

The court, which was expected to start hearing the case at 10:00am, barred reporters and supporters of Igboho who besieged the premises. The hearing commenced at about 5:00pm.

Daily Trust reports that supporters of Igboho were dispersed from the premises of the court later in the evening, prompting fears that he might be deported to Nigeria.

The government of Nigeria had accused Igboho of trafficking in arms, inciting violence to disrupt public peace, and agitating for secession. It also sought his extradition to Nigeria.

Igboho and his wife, Ropo, were arrested at the Cardinal Bernardin International Airport, Cotonou, last Monday while trying to catch a flight to Germany.

However, Ropo, who is a German citizen was set free by the court on Thursday while the self-styled agitator was remanded in the custody of Brigade Criminelle in Cotonou.

Igboho was placed on the wanted list on July 1 by the Department of State Services after its operatives raided his Soka residence in Ibadan, killing two of his aides. They arrested 12 others during the operation.