Deadly Niger Delta Avengers Strikes Again

    

Militants, suspected to be members of the Niger Delta Avengers, on Friday
morning, attacked and destroyed pipelines belonging to the Nigerian
Agip Oil Company in Bayelsa State. The militants reportedly struck at
between 3am and 5am and blew up Nembe 1, 2, 3 and Tebedaba Brass
  trunk-line in Bayelsa.
They were said to have arrived the affected areas on speedboats with two
double 200 horsepower engines. The militants, it was learnt, allegedly
engaged the operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil De fence Corps,
Bayelsa State Command, in a gunbattle when they tried to stop them. 

The attacks were said to have occurred at Goulubukori manifold in
Nembe and Lagosgbene pipeline in Southern Ijaw near Ekeremor area of Bayelsa.
A source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said a speedboat operated by NSCDC tried to dislodge the
militants to save the pipelines.
“The NSCDC engaged the saboteurs in a gun battle. There was a heavy
exchange of gunfire between them. But the militants were heavily armed and
many in number. They ensured that they destroyed the pipelines before
leaving,” the source said. But another source from Agip, who did
not want his name mentioned, described the attackers as “heavily
armed youths”.
He identified the damaged pipeline as the Tebidaba-Brass Agip pipeline,
saying that the facility was destroyed at three different points.
He said, “Reports from the swamp area indicate that last night and early hours
of Friday morning, a gang of heavily armed youths with two double 200hp
speedboats used explosives to destroy three different points on the Tebidaba-
Brass Agip pipelines.”
He further said Agip was about carrying out an operation to confirm
the affected areas and the magnitude of damage done to the pipelines. It was learnt that

 the impacted areas were raging with fire and thick smoke while crude oil spilled from the
ruptured pipeline was spreading around the environment.
The Commandant, NSCDC, Bayelsa Command, Mr. Desmond Agu,
confirmed the incident. Agu, who said his men exchanged
gunfire with the attackers, urged youths to stop destroying their
environment in the name of agitation.
He noted that any attack on a pipeline was an attack on the future survival of
the region.
The Commandant stated, “We are not relenting because we have the
mandate to protect all critical assets of the government within our areas of responsibility.
“We are asking troublemakers to leave the creeks and embrace peace. There
is no alternative to peace because without it there will be no development.”

The Niger Delta Avengers claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Agip pipelines on Friday.
In a statement from the NDA site, its spokesperson, ‘Brig.-Gen.’ Mudoch
Agbinibo, said, “At about 3am and 5am the Niger Delta Avengers blew up
Nembe 1, 2, 3 and Tebedaba Brass trunk-line in Bayelsa/River States.
“We are using this medium to warn the general public of impostors Facebook
accounts. Niger Delta Avenger is not in social network anymore.”
The group has claimed responsibilities for almost all the attacks on pipelines
and oil installations in the area.

Abia Governor expresses satisfaction with new ruling

    

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia has expressed satisfaction with the ruling by the Federal High Court in Owerri which
declared that his tax clearance papers were genuine.
Reacting to the ruling in Umuahia on Friday,
Ikpeazu described it as a victory for equity,
justice, the Nigerian judiciary and lovers of Abia.
"This matter which has been decided by the
court is similar and of great importance with
the one we are battling with in Abuja.
"I am happy to say that the learned judge
affirmed that my tax papers were genuine.
"What happened is one of those distractions
to set the state backward but this government
will remain resolute in its development trajectory and programmes," he said.
Ikpeazu said that he drew strength from the
decision of the Federal Government that the
situation in Abia was unknown to the law
and the status quo should be maintained
pending the determination of court
proceedings.
The Governor urged the people to remain
law abiding, adding that he would not want
the state to disintegrate under his watch.
Also reacting, Mr Theo Nkire, one of the
governor’s lawyers, said that the court had
proved that the tax clearance papers were
not forged.
"The Abia Board of Internal Revenue through
an affidavit before the court confirmed that the
tax clearance papers were genuine," Nkire
said.
Similarly, an Abia High Court in Osisioma also granted a motion filed by Ikpeazu for
extension of order stopping the swearing-in
of Mr Uche Ogah as the governor to July
18.
A statement from Mr Enyinnaya Appolos,
the Chief Press Secretary to the governor,
said on Friday that the court presided over
by Justice C.H. Ahuchaogu granted the
motion for extension of order restraining the
Chief Judge of Abia State from swearing in
Uche Ogar as governor.
It also restrained the Customary Court of
Appeal and any other judicial officer from
performing the function.

Okezie Ikpeazu Court refers Governor's judgement to Court of Appeal

 The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday referred the application for stay of
execution of judgement by Gov. Okezie
Ikpeazu of Abia to the Court of Appeal.
The judge, Justice Okon Abang, held that
the decision of the court had hinged on the
concession given to the application by Dr
Alex Izinyon (SAN), counsel to Dr Uche
Ogah.
Abang had on June 27 sacked Ikpeazu as
governor of the state over tax evasion
He, therefore,made a consequential order
compelling the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), to issue Ogah with the
Certificate of Return which was done.
Following the issuance of the Certificate of
Return as affirmation of one duly elected,
attempt was made to swear-in Ogah as
Governor of the state.
The attempt to reap the benefit of the
judgement was halted by an order of the
Abia State High Court, Osisioma Division.
Ikpeazu also filed a notice of appeal and
stay of execution of judgement at the
Federal High,Abuja, and Court of Appeal,
respectively
Abang had described the process as abuse
of court, but however, held that the position
of Ogah’s counsel made it impossible for
the court to rule otherwise.
He said all the legal cases cited by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), counsel to Ikpeazu
were not compatible with the issue at hand.
"The ruling of the court on July 4 did not form
part of this substantive application.
"All the cases cited by Olanipekun are good
laws but they are not applicable in this very
matter
"It is not also true that Order 4 Rule 10 of the
Court of Appeal strips this court of jurisdiction
as soon appeal is entered against my
decision,’’ he said.
Abang said: "this rule can only be effective if
it is an interlocutory injunction and cannot
work with a final judgment like this one.
"I will live all the motions arising from the
June 27 judgment of the Court for the Court of
Appeal to handle,’’ he held.
On a sister’s case filed by Ikpeazu urging
the court to compel INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return from Ogah, Abang
dismissed such motion, saying the motion
lacked merit.
The judge said: "I want to affirm the judgment
of the court that returned Ogah as the duly
elected governor of Abia State.
"So it an absurdity for the court to overall an
action that resulted from its decision.
"The issuance of the Certificate of Return to
Ogah was validly done. It was done when the
notice of appeal had not been served both the
judgement creditor and INEC,’’ he said.
The judge further held that ``furtherance to
that, the applicant is ordered to pay Ogah
the sum of N40, 000 as cost

Report: China still harvesting organs from prisoners at a massive scale

(CNN)- A new report claims that China is still engaged in the widespread and systematic harvesting of organs from prisoners, and says that people whose views conflict with the ruling Chinese Communist Party are being murdered for their organs.

The report -- by former Canadian lawmaker David Kilgour, human rights lawyer David Matas, and journalist Ethan Gutmann -- collates publicly reported figures from hospitals across China to show what they claim is a massive discrepancy between official figures for the number of transplants carried out throughout the country.

They blame the Chinese government, the Communist Party, the health system, doctors and hospitals for being complicit.

"The (Communist Party) says the total number of legal transplants is about 10,000 per year. But we can easily surpass the official Chinese figure just by looking at the two or three biggest hospitals," Matas said in a statement.

The report estimates that 60,000 to 100,000 organs are transplanted each year in Chinese hospitals.

According to the report, that gap is made up of executed prisoners, many of them prisoners of conscience locked up for their religious or political beliefs. China does not report its total number of executions, which it regards as a secret.

The report's findings stand in stark contrast to Beijing's claim that, since the beginning of 2015, China has moved from almost completely relying on organs from prisoners to the "largest voluntary organ donation system in Asia."

At a regular press conference Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China has "strict laws and regulations on this issue."

"As for the testimony and the published report, I want to say that such stories about forced organ harvesting in China are imaginary and baseless -- they don't have any factual foundation," she said.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission, which oversees organ donations in China, did not respond to a request for comment for this piece.

Patients queue at a hospital in China. More than 300,000 people require organ transplant operations every year.

Secret transplants

According to the report, thousands of people are being executed in China in secret and their organs harvested for use in transplant operations.

So who is being killed? The authors say mainly imprisoned religious and ethnic minorities, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, underground Christians, and practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.

While much of China's organ transplant system is kept secret, official figures show that 2,766 volunteers donated organs in 2015, with 7,785 large organs acquired.

Official figures put the number of transplant operations at around 10,000 a year, which the report disputes.

The authors point to publicly available statements and records released by hospitals across China claiming they carried out thousands of transplant annually, and interviews with and official biographies of individual doctors who claim to have carried out thousands of transplant operations during their careers.

"Simply by adding up a handful of the hospitals that have been profiled in this (report), it's easy to come up with higher annual transplant volume figures than 10,000," the authors write.

According to official statistics, there are more than 100 hospitals in China approved to carry out organ transplant operations. But the report states the authors have "verified and confirmed 712 hospitals which carry out liver and kidney transplants," and claims the number of actual transplants could be hundreds of thousands larger than China reports.

Falun Gong members stage a protest against China in Hong Kong.

'Ghoulish and inhumane practice'

The apparent gap in official transplant figures, the report claims, is filled by prisoners of conscience.

According to Amnesty International, "tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been arbitrarily detained" since the government launched a crackdown on the practice in 1999.

China regards Falun Gong as a "cult" and claims followers engage in "anti-China political activities."

"The government considers Falun Gong a threat to its power, and has detained, imprisoned and tortured its followers," says Maya Wang, China researcher for Human Rights Watch.

The report says detained Falun Gong practitioners were forced to have blood tests and medical exams. Those test results were placed in a database of living organ sources so quick organ matches could be made, the authors claim.

This massive supply of organs served to benefit hospitals and doctors, making for an ever growing industry.

The report's authors testified before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday.

"The Chinese government has been trafficking in organs for profit for far too long and we have strong evidence that Falun Gong practitioners were singled out for organ harvesting," said Representative Chris Smith, who co-chairs the committee.

In a statement released online, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, former chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the Chinese government's "ghoulish and inhumane practice of robbing individuals of their freedom, throwing them in labor camps or prisons, and then executing them and harvesting their organs for transplants is beyond the pale of comprehension and must be opposed universally and ended unconditionally." 

Good intentions'

For decades, Chinese officials strenuously denied that they harvested organs from prisoners, calling claims to the contrary "vicious slander."

Finally in 2005, officials admitted that the practice took place and promised to reform it.

Five years later however, Huang Jiefu, director of the China Organ Donation Committee, told medical journal The Lancet that more than 90% of transplant organs still came from executed prisoners.

China carries out more executions annually than the rest of the world put together, at least 2,400 in 2014, according to Death Penalty Worldwide. Official Chinese figures are not reported.

In late 2014, China announced that it would switch to a completely voluntary donation-based system.

This pronouncement was greeted with great skepticism however, given that between 2012 and 2013, only around 1,400 people signed up to donate (compared to the more than 300,000 in need of organ transplants every year).

Since then, the government has seen limited success in getting people to sign up to the national register.

One 86-year-old woman, surnamed Zhou, told CNN she had wanted to donate her organs in 1996 but at the time her local Red Cross chapter had never heard of someone doing so.

"Since I wasn't able to have a medical career myself, I want to make a contribution after I die," she said.

Zhou said that while her family was mostly supportive of her decision, "in China, the conventional wisdom is that it's improper to mutilate a body when someone is dead."

While people like Zhou have stepped forward to fill the gap left by prisoners, experts warn that there is nothing to stop those condemned to be executed from also "volunteering," and regulations legalizing the use of prisoners' organs remain in force.

The 2014 announcement "is only at best a statement of good intentions but has no force of law," the medical journal BMJ said.

The phasing out of executed prisoners' organs is a "semantic trick," Professor Li Huige of Johannes Gutenberg University said in a recent report commissioned by the European Parliament.

Why will China struggle to end organ harvesting from executed prisoners?

He pointed to statements by Huang to Chinese state media that "death row prisoners are also citizens."

"If (they) are willing to atone for their crime by donating organs, they should be encouraged," Huang told People's Daily.

By redefining prisoners as regular citizens, Li says, "China's national organ donation system may be abused for the whitewashing of organs from both death row prisoners and prisoners of conscience."

In an open letter to the Lancet, five doctors wrote that "China is still using death row inmates' organs. The only difference is that these organs are now been classified as citizens' voluntarily donated organs."

Huang did not respond to a request for comment. Speaking to the New York Times, he said his comments had been "distorted" and were not in keeping with government policy.

Testifying before the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, Francis Delmonico, president of the Transplantation Society, praised Huang as a "principal ally to change the outrageous practice" of using prisoners' organs.

China launches powerful new rocket "video"

 

China has launched the new and powerful Long March 7 rocket.

Source: CCTV

Alleged Aliens To Visit Earth

                                  

Bookies have slashed the odds on a world leader          revealing before the end of this year that aliens are visiting us. Activists are stepping up calls today for governments around the world to formally acknowledge that extra-terrestrials are engaging the human race. World Disclosure Day is being held to raise awareness of the so-called Roswell incident 69 years ago and end the 'truth embargo', say organisers. It is claimed an alien spaceship crashed on a remote ranch in New Mexico in the first week of July 1947.
The Roswell Army Air Force issued a press release saying the military had recovered the remains of "flying disc"which made front page news around the world.But on July 8, General Roger Ramey
announced at a press conference that the object was just a weather balloon, sparking claims of a cover-up.
Stephen Bassett, America's only registered lobbyist on the UFO /ET issue, spoke at the Alien Cosmic Expo late last month: "World Disclosure Day is not a prediction that disclosure will happen on
July 8.
"It is a designated day to draw focus on the issue. Think Earth Day.
"However, on the day the first nation comes forward to finally and formally acknowledge the alien presence, that date will then become World Disclosure Day
historically recognising the most profound event in human history."The video was later uploaded to YouTube by Jo-Anne Eadie .
William Hill has now slashed the odds of a UK prime minister or US president announcing aliens are visiting the planet from 1000/1 to just 25/1.
It follows Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton's pledge to "get to the bottom" of
"unexplained aerial phenomena" if she is elected president. She also vowed to send
a "task force" into Area 51 in Nevada where craft are said to be kept hidden
away. Bassett, executive director of Paradigm Research Group, is so convinced President Obama will disclosure before the end of the year, he has put his money where his mouth is by placing a 100/1 wager - dubbed the 'Disclosure bet' - which has a $30,000 payout.
And he believes the UK Prime Minister,which looks odds-on to be Theresa May, would back up the US commander in chief. He added: "It is notable that not too many
years back, similar wagers received odds of 1000 to 1 odds. The odds are much
lower now." A William Hill spokesman said: "There has definitely been a decent number of bets in
recent weeks but with the election around the corner we expect loads more.

Bantu Gorilla dies of Heart Attack .. Aged 24

A beloved gorilla has died of a heart hurt the boy or anything like that."
However, the zoo's director defended his employees' actions, saying they made the
right decision in shooting dead the animal and that the child was in danger.
However, the zoo's director defended his employees' actions, saying they made the right decision in shooting dead the animal and that the child was in danger. attack after being sedated so he could be
transported to another zoo for mating purposes.
The creature, named Bantu, was given the sedative last night as vets prepared to
transfer him to a different city in Mexicoto mate with two females. However, before they could set off on the trip, the 24-year-old gorilla suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest and passed away, officials said. Frantic efforts to resuscitate him failed, Mexico City's environment department said in a statement, citing a preliminary autopsy.  Bantu, who was a major attraction at the capital's Chapultepec zoo , was supposed  to have been taken to a facility in
Guadalajara, 340 miles away.
There, it was hoped he would mate with two females. Around 20 vets and experts are believed transportation efforts - which tragically ended in the gorilla's death, AFP reports.
Tests are now under way to confirm the  cause of Bantu's passing - while employees at Chapultepec are said to be greatly distressed by the incident.
"This incident has caused great consternation among zoo personnel who cared for him for nearly 25 years," said the environment department's statement. It added that international veterinary
protocols had been followed in the incident. Today, people were taking to social media
to express their sadness at Bantu's death, with one Instagram user saying he had 'no words'.
The man wrote: "Bantu, the beautiful 25 year old Gorilla (They live up to 40 years) from the zoo of Chapultepec in Mexico City, died from a Heart attack undertake effects of the anesthesia when they were trying to move him to a zoo in the city of Guadalajara.
"No words for this tragic loss..."
The animal's death comes less than two months after a gorilla was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio, US, after a three-year-old boy entered his enclosure.
The silverback, called Harambe, was gunned down by zoo employees after  to have been involved in the grabbing the boy and dragging him quickly across a moat at the facility.
The shooting sparked outrage across the world after footage emerged of the creature wrapping his arms around the youngster in an apparent bid to protect him.
Ape expert Dr Emily Bethell, a senior lecturer in Primate Behaviour at Liverpool John Moores University, told the Mirror Online that Harambe's body language showed he was not threatening the child . Dr Bethell said: “He was clearly being protective towards the boy.
“There were no signs of the gorilla being aggressive in the sense that he wanted to hurt the boy or anything like that."
However, the zoo's director defended his employees' actions, saying they made the
right decision in shooting dead the animal and that the child was in danger.

MASSOB faults Buhari on Nigeria’s non- negotiable

Awka—THE Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, yesterday faulted
President Muhammadu Buhari’s
insistence that Nigeria’s unity is not
negotiable, arguing that the President’s
view showed that he has not realized
that a new trend of resolving such
issues had taken over.
The President, while having an audience with
some people who paid him sallah homage at
the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, quoted former
head of state, General Yakubu Gowon’s stand during the Nigeria-Biafra war that the task of
keeping Nigeria as one united entity is a task that must be accomplished.
Reacting on the President’s statement, MASSOB leader, Chief Uchenna Madu said the Movement totally disagreed with the President, describing his statement as the thoughts of somebody who still believed in old ways of doing things.
He said: “The President, in his inner sense of reasoning, believes that he will easily crush Biafra, maybe with his intimidating tendencies over Igbo governors, National Assembly members, religious/ opinion/ political leaders. MASSOB views the President’s constant negative comments on Biafra consciousness as a sign of his jitteriness.“As every revolutionary struggle has its own methodology, the current Biafran struggle foractualization and restoration will continue to unfold confusing methods to the President.
The involvement of Niger Delta Avengers and other Niger Delta freedom fighters in the
Biafra struggle will continue to hunt those opposed to the actualization of Biafra.”
Madu said some of the decisions of the present administration in Nigeria were even assisting and justifying the struggle for the Biafra Republic, adding that the consciousness of Christians in the southern part and Middle Belt of the country had been reawakened.
He boasted that no man can crush Biafra because, according to him, God, history and humanity were on the side of the agitators.reawakened.
He boasted that no man can crush Biafra because, according to him, God, history and humanity were on the side of the agitators.

Lionel Messi and his father sentenced to suspended 21- month prison.

Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have been sentenced to 21 months in prison after a court in Barcelona found him guilty of three counts of tax fraud.
The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, a statement from
the court said. It is unlikely Messi or his father will not serve a stretch behind bars, however. Under Spanish law, a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation if you have no prior criminal record. The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around 2 million euros (£1.7million) and
his father to pay 1.5 million euros (£1.3million).

Ogah planning to kidnap judicial officers, Ikpeazu alleges

The Federal Government, yesterday, distanced itself from the governorship crisis currently rocking Abia State. This came as Governor Okezie Ikpeazu alleged that there was a plot by "desparate politicians" to kidnap judicial officers in Abia State to swear-in Dr. Uche Ogah, who was issued a certificate of return last week by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. But Uche Ogah said the fight to swear him in as governor of Abia State was still on and expressed hope that God would see him through. However, the Federal Government, through the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice,Abubakar Malami, SAN, said it never influenced the INEC to issue certificate of return to Ogah. The AGF, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Salihu Isah, urged all the parties involved in the governorship tussle to await the “decision of the courts” on the matter. Malami maintained that so far, nobody had approached him to proffer any legal opinion on the crisis. He said: “The attention of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to the insinuations and crass lies being peddled and disseminated by a cross- section of Nigerians and the various media platforms that the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation is behind the legal logjam over the Abia State governorship seat and wishes to clarify that those canvassing this position have no basis to do so. “Of particular concern are those who have peddled ill-natured rumours with a view to misinforming our discerning populace that it was the Attorney General of the Federation and by extension, the Federal Government of Nigeria, which gave directives to the  Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to issue Certificate of Return to Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah declaring him governor-elect.“He has definitely not taken any action either by spoken words or body language as far as this Abia governorship crisis is concerned. “I wish to, therefore, on behalf of my principal, declare that these rumors are untrue and a figment of the imagination of those pushing these selfish, shameless and irredeemable lies into public space which only translates to partisanship on the side of its Purveyors.“As far as the Attorney General of the Federation is concerned, the constitutional powers for the legal opinion of his office have not been invoked on this issue. “So far, nobody has approached him to proffer any legal opinion to it. As a strong believer in the rule of law, it is his belief that the law should naturally take its course .“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation will not be dragged into this controversy and mind-games being played out by the various legal mindsand spin doctors of both camps at this point.“The parties involved should await the  decision of the courts. “In fact, we wish to, by this statement, advise those in the habit of dragging the highly esteemed Office of the Attorney  General of the Federation and Minister of Justice into knotty issue of this kind even when it is yet to take a position. They should desist from these unwarranted presumptions henceforth.” Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja had on June 27, sacked Governor Ikpeazu of Abia State from office over alleged tax fraud. Aside ordering him to immediately vacate his office, the court further directed INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to Dr. Ogah, who came second  in the primary election of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that produced Ikpeazu. Though INEC had since issued certificate of return to Ogah, another court in Abia State, however, restrained the Chief Judge from swearing him in. Plot to kidnap judge Meanwhile, Governor Ikpeazu has alleged that there was a “plot to kidnap judicial officers in Abia State” to swear-in Ogah. Ikpeazu’s allegation came on the heels of the position of Ogah that the refusal of the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Theresa Uzokwe, to swear him in as the duly elected governor of the state was an affront on the rule of law. I never absconded from office —CJ But the judge has said that she neverabsconded from duty to avoid swearing in of Ogah as governor of Abia State, insisting that she was in office on Thursday, June 30, 2016, till 4.30 pm. A statement by the Acting Chief Registrar, Abia State Judiciary, Mrs.Vicky Analaba, said: “The attention of the Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Theresa Uzoamaka Uzokwe, has been drawn to various spurious and mischievous reports alleging that the Chief Judge absconded from her duty post on Thursday, June 30, 2016, to avoid swearing in Uche Ogah as Governor of Abia State. “ Contrary to the allegations of cowardice by mischievous politicians, the Chief Judge, was in her office throughout the working hours on Thursday, June 30,2016 from 8:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m.

“For the avoidance of doubt, on Thursday, June 30, 2016, the Chief Judge was in her court room performing her lawful duties, including the delivery of four rulings on that date. “The particulars of the ruling in question are: HU/35CM/2015 Francis Akor vs the State; HU/ICM/2016-Johnson Asiegbu vs. Commissioner of Police, HU/42CM/2016-Onyekachi Samuel vs. Commissioner of Police; HU/34CM/2016-Lucky Sampson vs. the State.

“These facts are verifiable and in the records of the court. The various lawyers who appeared in the respective suits listed above are also living witnesses.

“This press release has become necessary in order to avoid further mischief and to set the records straight.” Raising the kidnap alarm, Ikpeazu in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Enyinnaya Appolos said: “The state government has uncovered plots by desperate politicians to kidnap judicial officers in the state. “We call on security agencies in the state to increase surveillance and protection services around all judicial officers in the state.

“We wish to warn those involved in this plot to desist from their nefarious activities as the government will not hesitate to apply the full weight of the law against them. “We also call on Abians to be vigilant and report any suspicious movements around them to the security.” Ogah had accused the Chief Judge of Abia State, Justice Theresa Uzokwe of constituting “an affront on the rule of law” by refusing to swear him in as duly- elected governor of the state,” saying the action was capable of undermining the peace and stability of the state. According to him, the stay of execution of order secured from an Abia High Court in Osisioma has no force of law as the court has coordinate jurisdiction with a Federal High Court.

“A High Court in Abia is a court of coordinate jurisdiction with a Federal High Court and so any order given by such court to contradict an earlier order of the same court is ipso facto null and void. It is only a higher court that has the legal capacity to reverse the earlier order or judgment,” Ogah was quoted as saying through his Special Adviser on Public Communications, Monday Ubani. Abia PDP accuses Ogah of nursing unbridled ambition On its own, Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has accused Ogah of nursing “unbridled ambition” and alleged that he was plotting to kidnap judicial officers to swear him in as governor of Abia State. A statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Chief Don Ubani, stated: “The Peoples’ Democratic Party in Abia State has frowned on the reports making round in the state that a certain desperate politician in the state, whose illegal efforts to seize power from the back door which has been frustrated by decent application of the rule of law, is now directing his evil machination towards kidnapping judicial officers in the state with the hope of intimidatingthem in order to have access to power that he did not canvass for.“The party has equally taken cognizanceof the inordinately ambitious politician’s plot to kidnap some top functionaries of the party in the state. According to intelligence available to the party, the political desperado is embittered with the state executive of the party for not coming out to support his acts of illegality.

“The party, therefore, cautions the politician that is involved in this sacrilegious and bloody shenanigan to quickly retrace his nefarious steps as the likely consequences of his devious  desires and mischievous plots would compound his imagination and would only leave him with regrets that may not be redressed or even corrected in his life time. “The party wishes to remind him that he who throws stones into a crowded market should not forget that his loved ones could end up being the victims of his action.”

The fight is still on —Ogah But speaking, yesterday, on developments in the state, Ogah said the fight to swear him in as governor was still on. Ogah said he was hopeful that God would see him through the fight, adding that this was not the time to talk much.

Avengers blow up 5 NNPC, Chevron, NPDC facilities in Delta

THE Niger Delta Avengers, NDA,
resumed attacks on oil and gas
installations in the Niger Delta region,
weekend, blowing up Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Chevron
Nigeria Limited, CNL and Nigeria
Petroleum Development Company, NPDC
crude oil trunk lines and oil wells in
Delta State.The militant group confirmed on it
twitter handle that it actually bombed
two major NNPC crude oil trunk line to Warri Refining and Petrochemical
Company, WRPC, Warri, on Friday at
about 9.15 pm.

It said: “At 11:26pm on Saturday
@NDAvengers blow up two NPDC major crude trunk lines close to Batan flow station in Delta state.”

“At 1:15am on Sunday @NDAvengers blow up two major Chevron Oil Wells.
Well 7 and Well 8, close to Abiteye flow station in Delta state,” it added.
The militant group in a tweet
congratulating its fighters for a good job, asserted:”All five operations was carried out by @NDAvengers strike team.”

Priest Preaches With Gun. Must Read

The said pastor with his gun strapped on
while preaching.
According to report, the picture above
was allegedly taken at St. James
Catholic Cathedral, Military Base, Yobe
State. It was reported that the priest took
the step due to incessant attacks from
the Boko Haram sect in the area. What do you make of this?
Imagine End times.

Mikel set to leave Chelsea unless Conte offers him first-team football

The Nigeria international has spoken to the inbound Blues boss but is yet to receive assurances about his playing time ahead of the new season.

John Obi Mikel could be set to leave Chelsea this summer in pursuit of regular first-team football, Goal understands.
The midfielder, who has been with the Blues since 2006, has just one-year remaining on his current deal and is yet to receive assurances about his playing time ahead of the new season.
Goal understands Mikel has spoken to inbound Chelsea boss Antonio Conte and is prepared to hold off a move away until he holds further discussions with the manager when Italy's Euro 2016 campaign ends.
However, Mikel - who would be keen to stay at Chelsea - is considering alternative options in case Conte does not offer him what he wants.
Chelsea have a policy of only offering one-year extensions to players over 30 which means it is in the 29-year-old's interest to renew his contract this summer to secure a longer deal.