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Nigerian court reserves judgement on separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, postpones hearing

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In Nigeria, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reserved its judgment against the appeal filed by the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, challenging the 7-count charge brought against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The bench led by Justice Jummai Hannatu refused to quash the terrorism and treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against Kanu.

Recall that a federal court in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, had dismissed eight of the 15 terror charges against Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of a separatist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

Kanu’s team of lawyers led by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, had approached the appellate court to query the legal competence of the charge pending against him.

Ozekhome argued before the court that Kanu was on holiday according to the terms of his bail before he was unlawfully attacked by the state’s agent and was eventually illegally extradited.

“My lords, he was enjoying this bail without breaching the terms. However, he was in his ancestral home when agents of the Respondent invaded his home in September 2017. He barely escaped alive by sheer providence and found himself first in Isreal and later in London.

“When the Appellant travelled from London to Kenya, agents of the Respondents, on June 27, 2021, forcefully abducted the Appellant, tortured and renditioned him back to the country without following any extradition process”, Ozekhome submitted.

“This allegation of his forceful abduction and rendition was never denied by the Respondent.

Meanwhile, FG, through its lawyer, Mr. David Kaswe, urged the court to dismiss the appeal for want of merit. He maintained that the IPOB leader was brought back to the country by due process of the law.

The panel after it had listened to both sides, said it would communicate a date for the judgment.

Nigeria has had a number of separatist agendas spring up since her political independence in 1960, but the cry for self-determination amongst various ethnic-based groups has been more amplified in the heterogeneous West African country since the current President Muhamadu Buhari came into power in 2015.

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65% of Nigerian households lack money for healthy food—Survey

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A survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that around 65% of Nigerian households, which is about two-thirds of the population, lack the financial means to eat healthy food.

According to the survey by the agency, the decline is a reflection of the multidimensional poverty in the country and the impact of continuous reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians due to rising prices of goods and services.

And as a result, two-thirds of households in the country lack money to eat healthy, nutritious food, the NBS said.

Titled “Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024),” the survey examined demographics, education, and health trends in Nigeria, comparing data from Wave 4 (2018/19) and Wave 5 (2023/24).

On food insecurity, the survey stated:

“Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should.”

It added that between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 percent to 62.4 percent.

On access to energy, the survey revealed said:

“82.2 percent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas. Nigerian households face an average of 6.7 power blackouts weekly.

“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 percent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.

“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 percent of households using bushes or streets,” it added.

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Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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