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The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday fired two Senators and eight House of Representatives members from Katsina state, who got their seats after their initial occupants were sacked by the Independent National Electoral Commission December 2011.

The court ordered that those sacked by INEC be reinstated.

They are Senators Abdu Umar Yandoma and Ahmad Sani Stores, House of Reps members, Murtala Isa, Muntari Dandutse, Musa Salisu, Aminu Ashiru and Umar Adamu Katsayal, Muhammad Tukur, Tasi’u Doguro, and Abdu Dankama.

Those occupying the seats presently, who are to vacate are Senators Abubakar Yar’adua and Hadi Sirika, House of Reps members Ahmed Babba Kaita, Salisu Salisco, Umar Abubakar, Salisu Daura, Isa Doro, Sani Mashi, Abbas Machika and Mansur Funtua.

The first set of lawmakers were sacked in December 2011 by the electoral body which said they were not the due candidates for the elections on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC.

That decision was overturned in January 2013 by a High Court in Abuja, which ordered that the initial winners be reinstated. But that ruling was not effected as the second set of lawmakers appealed against the ruling.

In its ruling on Friday, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court, Abuja which voided the withdrawal of Certificate of Returns of the first 10 Katsina lawmakers.

The court also said the leadership of the National Assembly acted in error by accepting to swear-in the second set of lawmakers to replace the old ones after INEC issued to them Certificate of Returns.

Justice Jimmy Bada, who led four other judges to hear the appeal said that the High Court was right to have dismissed the objection raised by the lawmakers currently in the National Assembly.

“There is no court of competent jurisdiction that declared the appellant as winner in the election,” the judge said.

“The respondents (those whose certificate of returns were withdrawn) were duly sworn-in and I am of the view that the court below has the powers to entertain the case of the respondent.

“The certificate of returns issued to the appellants is a nullity. The court below was right in dismissing the objection of the appellants. INEC issued the certificate of returns without order from any court or tribunal”.

The lawyer representing the lawmakers who have been ordered to vacate their seats, John Baiyeeshea, said the appeal, which raised four issues for the court’s determination, was not a pre-election matter and as such the federal high court had no jurisdiction to hear and make a pronouncement on it.

He argued that the issuance of Certificates of Return and alleged withdrawal of the certificate are post-election matters, and begged the court to annul the judgement of the high court.

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Israel Ekwuruibe is a devout catholic. Aside attending church regularly, he was a member of the choir at St. Theresa Catholic Church, Finima in Bonny, Rivers State. On Sunday, September 29, he went to church and sat on the choir pew, using his baritone voice to sing praises to God. But deep within him was a sinister plan that had been conceived along with five others to kidnap the little son of a church member for a ransom.

As soon as he sighted the car of their target, Israel made a sign to other gang members who were also within the church building, pretending to be genuine worshippers. The other suspects were Ifeanyi who was said to have formed the gang, Godswill Bernard, Loveday Anakwuru, Ogechi Nwosu (also a church member) and Odinaka Gabriel.


Before anyone knew what was happening, little James (not real name) was nowhere to be found. Israel and other gang members found their way out of the church but it did not take long before their evil deed became exposed. They were picked one by one in Finima. The leader, who had gone as far as Akwa Ibom State with the child, was apprehended along the way by the military joint task force before any ransom could be collected.

This was how the Rivers State Police Command recently thwarted the plans of a kidnap gang, which thought it would make cool millions from a staff of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Bonny (names withheld) by kidnapping his three-year-old son.

Crime Reports gathered that the kidnapped boy’s father reported at the Finima Division that he could not find his three-year-old son while in church. At about 3.45p.m., the man was said to have returned to the station, saying that someone called him with number 07010806571 and demanded for N15million as ransom. The Divisional Police Officer in charge of the division, Mohammed Suleiman Baba, a Superintendent of Police, reportedly swung into action while asking the man to play along by saying that he only had N50,000.

The Commissioner of Police, Mbu Joseph Mbu reportedly put the entire command at alert while the anti-kidnapping section of the command also went to work. At about 7.30p.m., Crime Reports learnt that operatives from Finima Division, assisted by the Finima Youth Congress, arrested Loveday, Godswill and Odinaka based on suspicion that they knew something about the kidnap.

Police investigation eventually revealed that Ifeanyi was the gang leader. However, a joint task force of the Army and the police intercepted and arrested him along Akwa-Ibom-Port Harcourt road and rescued the child from him. It was said that police investigations also revealed that Israel and Ogechi were the ones who brought the idea of kidnapping the son of the LNG staff who attended the same church with them.

In an interview with Crime Reports, Godswill Bernard (20), from Akwa Ibom State, said the kidnap idea was sold to him by Ifeanyi who was a fellow okada rider. According to Godswill, “I never knew he was involved in kidnapping. He started talking to me, saying that God would use the rich to bless the poor if they do not realise that what they are doing is bad. He promised to help me. I didn’t understand the meaning then.

“In September, Ifeanyi told me that I would soon understand all he was telling me in parables. One day, he invited me to a gathering and introduced me to Israel, one of the six men he was discussing with. Israel was a member of St. Theresa Catholic Church, Finima. They were all speaking Igbo. It was that night that I knew Ifeanyi was planning kidnapping.

“On Sunday, September 29, we went to the church. I was told that a girl who is a member of the church would bring a young boy out. Israel was in the church. I didn’t know when Ifeanyi’s girlfriend, Chukwuodi, carried the boy but immediately I saw the child’s mother looking for him, I knew our gang had struck.”

In his own words, Odinaka (22) from Abia State, a father of three children, said

“I had never been involved in kidnapping. This is my first time. It was because there was nothing to do except the okada job. I am an orphan and have no one to take care of me. I was invited to Israel’s house one day by fellow okada riders and they started discussing about the issue. Though I sat with them, I didn’t show interest. I did not even follow them but I was told that I would be given something if they could get a ransom.”

Ogechi (26) also disclosed that “Israel had once called me to introduce the idea of kidnapping a church member’s child but I told him I could not do it. This time, he called me again and said I should join them, telling me that he did not like the job I was doing. I replied him that I was not complaining.

“He said that I would help them carry the child out since children in the church are close to me. I told him I could not do it because people would have noticed the child with me. He volunteered to do it but Ifeanyi said he could not do it, promising to bring his girlfriend to do the job.

 “I didn’t tell the church authorities because they were threatening me and I was so scared. That was where I displayed foolishness. I was not the one who gave them the child.”

On his involvement, Israel Ekwuruibe (30), also an okada rider, said “I was among the gang but they had already planned the job. Ifeanyi, Odinaka, Loveday and Godswill came to me before I introduced Ogechi to them.

“On the day we carried out the job, I was on the choir stand and I attended both first and second services. I didn’t know who actually brought the child out but it was Ogechi who described the vehicle that the parents of our target used to bring to church. When they came, I was the one who pointed the vehicle to Godswill. I was in my house when police came to arrest me later.”

Also, Loveday Anakwuru (25) told Crime Reports: “I am also a member of the church. It was not my intention to join in evil plan but I did so out of frustration. I am an orphan and there was nobody to help me.”
Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer in Rivers State, Lawan Usman, told Crime Reports that the suspects were still being investigated. He attributed the success of the police in rescuing the kidnapped victim to prompt report made by the father.
 Osun

“Sometimes, I feel guilty of committing crimes against God. But our commanders always tell us that it is God’s work that we are doing. It is a terrible thing to be a member of the sect, but many foot soldiers of Boko Haram like me, cannot leave for fear of being killed.”

That was part of the confessions of a 22-years old fighter of the dreaded Boko Haram sect who was arrested on 6 October by security operatives and has since been helping them in their investigations.

Continue after the break.

The suspect, who the military in Borno State, for security reasons, simply called Omar, told journalists in Maiduguri, the state capital, last Friday, that hundreds of some of the recruited fighters, including those who had been with the sect for long, were itching to lay down their arms and embrace peace, but for the fear of being hunted and killed by their leaders.

‘I was forced into sect with threat of death’
Speaking at the Brigadier Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, the Boko Haram fighter said he was forced into joining the group by his elder brother, who had been killed in a battle with military forces.

According to Omar, who confessed to have seen the weapons brought home by his late brother, the sect threatened to kill him and other members of his family, if security operatives got to know that he had seen his brother hiding weapons in their house.

Explaining how he was arrested in Damboa town, Damboa Local Government Area of the state, during a foiled attack on the local government, the suspect said: “During the attack, I was shot in the leg and my people carried me, because we do not leave our wounded behind. However, while running away from the military, they thought I had given up the ghost and there was no time for burial; thus, they left me in the bush and ran away.

“But after a while, I regained consciousness and dragged myself close to town where some children saw me and ran to report to the elders who subsequently informed the police and I was arrested.

“I was later handed over to the soldiers who brought me to Maiduguri for questioning. I was also told by the soldiers that based on my confession, I would be asked to speak with reporters.

I believe you are the people they talked about.”

Omar said contrary to the claim that the Boko Haram insurgents were being asked to take an oath or were being induced with drugs as they joined the group or when moving out to attack any place, it was pure indoctrination; as they believed what they were told that they were “working for Allah as His fingers to carry out jihad for Him.”

He said, once one joined, there was no way out as the units did a head count regularly to know those who were around and if anyone had left.

“I have seen many of my brothers who ran away brought back. I witnessed how they were slaughtered when the group went after them and arrested them. I was once a victim. I attempted to leave. In fact, I left and travelled to Lagos, but somehow, they got me back and I was to be slaughtered. But an argument ensued among our superiors, a development that led them to giving me a second chance, until my eventual arrest this time when they left me in the bush,” he said.

‘We are not fighting for God’
The young lad added that; “I cannot say that, what we are doing is the work of Allah; rather, I see us taking lives and forcefully taking what does not belong to us, which, to me, looks like banditry and not the work of Allah, even though they want us to believe that we are fighting jihad.

“I know the money we collected from people and spent, the food we burgled shops or food stores to collect and ate were nothing but robbery proceeds.

“Although I have never slaughtered anyone, each time we went out to operate, I was given AK47 riffle to shoot and kill. Those guns were brought to us by our superiors in the camps. We do not know where they got the weapons from, but we know that those who brought them used motorcycles to bring them to us, hidden in a bag or sack,” he said.

EXCERPTED FROM SUNDAY TRIBUNE